Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  For this week's Serene Scenery Sunday post, I thought I'd just take you around the gardens here at Ao4 Headquarters.  Ready to take a look around?  We took a lot of photos, so I'll try to keep the chit chat to a minimum.

Here's a closer look at those Gerbera Daisies I showed you the other day:

Gerbera Daisies

Despite Mom having thrown them in jail (I told you about that here), the Peonies are looking great!

Skidmore Peonies

Out back, our first-year-ever Irises are looking awesome!

Purple and light purple Iris

Yellow Iris

Just up from the Irises is one of the Hummingbird Mint plants.  This is the newer one.  It isn't blooming yet, but it's growing really well:

Hummingbird Mint!

When Mom went down to weed and water them, she discovered we have a couple interesting, new friends in our garden!  Check them out:

Great Plains Skinks!

Mom had never seen one before, so she was really excited!  We wonder if we'll have baby Skinks soon!?!  (Oh.  And in case you were wondering, neither Cam nor I have seen them.)

Here's a shot of the Butterfly Garden - looking up into it from the backyard:

The Butterfly Garden!

Mom was holding her iPhone through the fence to get that shot and couldn't see what she was shooting.  Just do the head-tilt and it'll look normal.

How about we go up top and check out the Butterfly Garden from there?

"It's all down there, readers!"

Have I mentioned Mom not being able to see what she's doing when she's shooting in full sun?  I thought we should go down into the garden; Mom thought, given my propensity for sticking my snooter into flowers and wanting to hunt, that I should just stay up on the wall.  Fine.  (For now.)

Here's a look at the Hummingbird Mint that's down there!

Hummingbird Mint (Agastache)

It's a different variety than the one down in the back garden.

Here's the Salvia:

Blue Salvia

And here's a look at the Pincushion Flower:

You can see why it's called "Pincushion Flower", can't you?  Cool!

Don't you think we need to take a closer look at the Hummingbird Mint?  Me, too!

"Smells LOVELY!"

I know!  I got to go into the Butterfly Garden!!!  It was a first!  Mom said as long as I didn't stomp on anything and didn't try to eat her plants, I could check things out!  Awesome!

How about the Pincushion Flower?  Does it really have pins?

"Just a LITTLE closer, Mom!  C'mon!  The blog readers want to know!!!"

That didn't go as planned.

"Fine.  'Sit behind the Pincushion Flower.'  Got it.  Whatevs."

To my right (your left) is the Hummingbird Mint, and behind me is one of the Butterfly Bushes.

That's a wrap for Serene Scenery Sunday.  I hope you feel nice and peaceful now.  Oh.  And the Pincushion Flower just looks like it has pins sticking in it, but it really doesn't.  Trust me.

To see more of our garden pix, to include more photos of our Great Plains Skinks, click any of the photos above to head to our FlickR page!

Stay cool, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher