In The Chicago Late Summer Garden

In Chicago, in August/September,the Chicago late summer garden and yard is my favorite time of the year.Everything finally fills in and looks lush! Birds are singing and everything is so green!!! It’s a shame how fleeting it is. Once we get our first heavy frost my yard becomes a barren wasteland. In fact, to prove my point, here is a fake book cover I wasted waaaaayy too much time on this morning. If I had to write a book about it, this would be the cover…lol.

Not. Even. Kidding.  I know you Midwestern gardeners get it. Are you with me? Anyhoo, while the yard does still look fantastic, I thought I would share a few snaps with you.

I know my legs and boots are just what you wanted to see, but I am in love with our pea gravel path.I think we need more in our yard and I am considering turning the grassy area behind our brick patio into a pea gravel area.

We could put a table out there, or our fire pit. Also, It gets  a little wet there so I think it would drain better too.

This is the view from the other side. Do you see those monster marigolds? They are almost 3 feet tall and haven’t bloomed yet!Somebody put the wrong seeds in the wrong package at the seed factory. Those are not what I bought but they are cool. I can’t wait to see what they look like when they bloom….If they ever do.

I planted some red heirloom sunflowers this year. They aren’t very tall, but they are really pretty. There are two varieties and are a red color.

One is a bit deeper than the other.

I was a little ticked off when the packages came because one only had 3 freaking seeds in it and it was like $7! Luckily, they are prolific, so I have already started saving the heads for next year. Red sunflowers for everyone!

I moved things around on our deck a bit, and moved the roadside find bench to under the eaves where it would take less of a beating from the weather.The mirror was a very awesome Target clearance item.

I moved our Adirondack chairs to the other side near the deck squash I didn’t plant.

I am not sure what variety it is. It just kind of came up on it’s own and I let the vine go, so for now I am calling it deck squash. I’ll share more of my yard later. And Little is doing better. We have a follow up appointment so hopefully she’ll be going back to school coon. I can tell she is feeling better because she is bored and fighting with her sisters. Ah, the sweet sounds in life.

You can see more of my past garden posts here, like shade planting and here.