"There is Beauty All Around"...

"I went looking for Beauty
and I found it all around"!!

(I LOVE this quote...

this is on my 2009 Karen H. Good
"Life is your dance" calendar
that I have hanging in my kitchen)

Anyone who knows me know that I am very much a NATURE lover and that if I had my choice of any place I could be it would be in the mountains! The wildflowers up there are so amazingly beautiful and since we don't get there as much as I'd like to, I have tried to create my own little "flower haven" in my own yard to remind me of the beautiful flowers that I so much enjoy.

These are 2 of my favorite wildflowers
and the first photo in my post (the one that says "My Inspiration for my yard") has a field of Lupine flowers that are my other favorite!!

(the progress of my yard this summer)
It's a reality that in Idaho we only have about 2 months of gorgeous blooming flowers in our yards and then things die off and we have to wait until next year to enjoy them again. That is why when my own yard stops blooming I have some really great neighbors who have planted different things than me that provide color and beauty even into the middle of fall and we can go and enjoy the beauty of their yards!

After my tulips stopped blooming
my Lilac bush came into full bloom with its white/lavender flowers.
The smell that it put off was amazing and you could smell it clear from my front porch each time there was a breeze.
I LOVE this lilac bush because of its name...
it is a "Miss Kim Lilac bush"
(how could I not plant something in my yard that has the same name as me!)

All of the lilies in my yard were exceptionally beautiful this year, which I have to attribute to all of the rain that we received in the month of June. I have 6 different types of lilies growing and the Day Lilies that are the 2 bottom photos on the right hand side of the photo are still blooming even as this post is written!

Another view
showing how pretty the lilies look in bloom and I LOVE the purple Salvia in the background of the bottom photo.

My love for the "Purple Fringe" wildflower
is what inspired me to plant this lovely "Liatris Spicata" flower.
It is such a unique flower and it makes me smile
every time I go out to water my flowers.

Purple SALVIA is what is shown here...
the top photo is when it first started blooming and then the bottom photo shows what a pretty backdrop is provides behind my daisies.

I have always LOVED Hosta plants.
They are another unique plant and they shoot up the most delicate flowers towards the end of summer. These remind me of something that grows in the tropics.

I am a LOVER of butterflies and my sweet kids and mother/father in-law bought this unique copper butterfly for me while they were on a summer trip. It goes perfect nestled in with my Violets and Emerald Gaity Euonymus plants!

No garden would be complete without daisies!
I have 2 different kinds of daisy plants in my garden.
These are "Fringed Daisies"
I love the"lacy looking" edge of the flowers.

Simple and elegant "Shasta Daisies".
There is just something about daisies and sunflowers... you can't look at them without getting a smile on your face!

Somehow I got lucky with these photos I took of our LAVENDER!
They were perfectly clear and really showed off the leaves well. The fragrant smell that the lavender put off was incredible and I couldn't get enough of it!

This is a photo showing the cool rocks with the lavender.
I have a whole corner of my yard that is full of lavender.

These "Blue Clips" and "Platycodon"
are still blooming right now and they add a great splash of vibrant color, because most of my flowering bushes are no longer blooming and so I am SO happy to still have a little color in my yard!

I LOVE my Delphinium!!
So elegant and graceful and they are the prettiest color of blue that look gorgeous next to my Daisies and Salvia.

Here are 2 cute little blooming flowers...
the yellow ones are "Coreopsis"
and the little lavender ones are "Asters".
Both of them are SO similar to flowers that we see in the high country.
They are another flower that makes me happy!

On many a summer night
you would find Tracy and I sitting in these 2 chairs shown in the top photo enjoying the beauty out in our yard and many gorgeous sunsets.
Next to my porch, this is my favorite spot to be in my yard!

As you can tell our "Spring Snow Crab" tree (in the top photo)
is SO big that when you are sitting on my front porch you can't see anything but that tree and so I am SO glad that we have a place to sit and enjoy these gorgeous blooming flowers.
The flowers shown in the photos with my chairs and in the bottom two photos shown above are called "Penstemon...Rondo Mix" and these remind me the most of the flowers we see in the high country and they bloom non-stop the month of June and July.
They are an AWESOME flower and they are all over my yard!! (they like to multiply and so when I see one starting to grow I let it grow because I love it so much!

This gorgeous beauty is my Mother's Day Plant
and I am amazed it survived. We got a frost shortly after planting it and it wilted and I thought for sure it wouldn't make it. I am sold on the concept of NURTURING because I faithfully watered it weekly and it must have made the difference because somehow it survived and we have had 5 gorgeous red flowers to enjoy.

And the last flowers to bloom are my PHLOX plants!
They have stunning beauty and it's so fun to pull up to my driveway and see bunches of purple color in my yard to greet me!

I feel SO blessed for the abundance of beauty that is all around me and I hope that I can always be in tune to notice beauty everywhere I go!!

I also have to mention that "Nurturing" is the one of the greatest things we can give to others...especially our family members!
Just as a garden needs to be watered, weeded and fed, so our children and spouses need to be nurtured as well with LOTS of kind words, encouragement, and most of all unconditional love!

"There is Beauty All Around,
when there's Love at Home"!