
Ohhhhhmmmmm. That's the sound for this part of your Virtual Garden Tour. After the Side of Chaos and the raucous front? We need a little ohm.

This part of the garden has been transformed greatly over the past several years. What used to be hot and dry, has become shade and part shade, and a calm transition from one area to another.

The addition of the bench made it not just a place to pass through, but a place to be in and contemplate. To be still. To be.
The best thing we ever did here was to throw in the towel on the attempt of growing grass as a pathway, and to put in the cedar chip mulch. It has a little bounce to it. And it smells really good.

This area is home to plenty of garden art, or I like to call it A.R.T.—the capitalization makes it the real deal. I like to think it helps to break up the thick foliage and green.



Scrambling in the tree is our hummingbird feeder. It's also known as honeysuckle.


Look up and you'll discover the tree (Clerodendrum c. trichotomum “harlequin glorybowers”) is full of glass crystals, chimes and bells. It's also full of little white lights at night, or hanging candles.

A photo from last year:

The sunlight through this area is so delicate and dramatic (I know, that seems like a weird combination, doesn't it? But it's true.) in the early morning and late day. I think about this when planting, and love plants that have see-through qualities, or the ability to glow when lit (purple feather grass is delightful). I couldn't pass up this begonia at the garden center this year. It was only $5, and it is honkin' huge. I can't stop taking photos of it.



No really, it's huge, see? Here I am with it for reference.

As is with many things in our garden, volunteers exist here too, including these alliums. I let them stay, and love them dancing among the lady's mantle.


We begin to get a glimpse of the back hangout from here, and a side pathway takes us to a new, serene little sitting area in the shade.


With creepers growing among the stones. And fragrant pennyroyal right where you put your feet when you sit down in the chair. Who doesn't love pennyroyal scented feet?


Wink likes the path, too.

I have some new toys from IKEA: solar fiber optic lights. Hello to my inner 6-year-old. They're tucked into a few places back here, and here it is in the lady's mantle. I can't stop staring at it. And touching it.


Next and final stop on our Virtual Garden Tour? The back hangout!