Here is one of my Walking Iris beginning to bloom.  The deep blue color is spectacular!

My Peggy Martin climbing rose vine is happily blooming and getting larger – I cannot wait until it covers the fence completely!

My antique roses fill the air with a sweet musky smell:  below Celine Forestier and Duchesse De Brabant.

My kitchen garden “potager” sits directly outside my kitchen.  I have designed this portion of un-used side yard to house a kitchen garden and a test garden along the fence line.   I cannot resist but add more flowers.  I have a couple of Topiary Weeping Roses which I love; they add a graceful elegance to the potager garden. Around the tree rose, there is Upright Rosemary, Arugula, Mint, Lemon Balm, Aster, and Lavender and of course a Hydrangea tucked in a shady spot the weeping rose provides.

My assistant Coco, follows me around the garden—seems like she too enjoys our weekends gardening! If I could only teach her to hunt snails –these pesky creatures love to munch on most everything I grow!  In the center of the potager, note a topiary Hydrangea Paniculata that has not yet returned, I see little buds forming, later this summer it will be full of white blooms.  Below: Drift Rose Sweet, Lavender, Petunia, Echinacea, Italian Sweet Basil, Lobelia, Shasta Daisy.

Here is the view of this same section from the other side. Creeping Germander adds a lovely texture next to the Shasta Daisies.

The Ajuga just stopped blooming; I love the color and the contrast the leaves provide. An important thing to remember when choosing plants for your garden – make sure you like the leaves and they provide a contrast to other plants in the garden.

Can you believe we can grow Pineapple in Houston!   My husband planted the top of a store bought pineapple and voila – one year later it is giving us fruit! I have one pineapple almost ready to pick and another on the way. During last winter’s freeze – I did absolutely nothing to it; left it uncovered and hoped for the best.

I love using Asters in my garden!  Their cheery little flowers always brighten up my day, they bloom on and off throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall, I have several varieties of them.  They re-seed themselves each winter and come back year after year.

This is the small patio just outside my kitchen.  In my pots below,  the Hydrangea has started to bloom, the Calla Lily is lush and green and also in bloom.  I will bid farewell to my Petunia, as it will soon be too hot for them.  Maiden Hair Fern and Hydrangea are planting in the zinc tub beneath my kitchen window.

I only planted 2 tomatoes this year – they are already huge and yielding plenty!

The snails seem to love my peppers too!  Beneath the peppers there is pink Scaevola blooming. I have four varieties of peppers growing, an easy vegetable that will grow all summer.

I had to include this sweet Vinca Strawberry Cascade, as the poor plant has been blooming non-stop since last summer.  This is another plant that the freeze did not seem to bother.  It breaks my heart that I need to trim it off the floor, but I would like to see a little more of my Biot pot!

The Double orange Portulaca with Scaevola makes a pretty combination in my pots by the pool.

The Queen Mum Agapanthus has just begun to bloom, I love adding a little bit of white in my gardens as that color seems to pop!

This section of my garden is what I refer to as my test garden!  Anything that comes in new at the nursery gets tested here.  The bed is about 200’ long and offers sun, shade and partial sun.  It is the neglected side of the yard – which make a perfect test area.  Everything seems happy and starting to bloom.

Verbena cascades along the edge of this garden, along with Stokesia and Lavender of many varieties.

The Golden Carex & Hydrangea brightens up a shady spot.

The Salvia Black and Blue in my test garden is found to be a truly no maintenance plant with the deepest purple blooms all summer. In the picture below the last of my Amaryllis are blooming, this is another easy growing plant.

I hope you enjoyed walking around my garden today!   Coco and I had a wonderful time, to end the day I will prepare a salad from the vegetables I picked today fresh from the garden. I hope I have inspired you to be brave and create a garden that makes you happy! Bon apetite!