Outdoor Wednesday!

I'm joining in with 'Outdoor Wednesday' this week. I thought it would help me keep my blog in a more 'organized manner' if I chose a day each week to share with you what's going on around the garden. I know I've shown you lots of pictures this summer of the veggies we've been growing but I thought it would be nice to show other things outside too. I took the camera out last night and took a few shots. . . .

I must admit, at the height of summer things are never as pretty and fresh looking as they were back in the spring. But by taking pics and showing the 'mess' out there, it rather motivates me to get out more and 'clean it up'! First up though is corn and beans! We planted this bed just after my sister left around June 25th. I know it will surprise her because nothing was in this bed when she left on June 22nd!!

Here's a close up of a corn husk already. . .

This is Lantana that I planted a couple of months ago. . . the orange and red tiny flowers are so pretty,

and this is the bed it's in. See what I mean about things not looking so good in summer! The weeds need picking and the mulch gets all full of dry grass when the yard is mowed!

Here's a picture of my herb garden... in sore need of a clean up too!

What you see mainly in this picture is basil to the right (at the front) and mint in the pot on the left, then behind those is thai basil. I don't use this much but it smells wonderful. There's also another pot of mint just behind that (this one is spearmint, the one at the front is peppermint and smells like candy canes!). You can also see marigolds. They got so huge I had to pull 3 plants out last week, they were covering the rosemary and oregano back there!

Before we head around to the front yard, here's a picture of the pear in our pear tree :-)

There's a few on there, but this one's the biggest. We've never had fruit off this tree yet, I'm hoping this doesn't get eaten by the birds before it gets ripe!

So, here we are at the front door. . .

rather messy looking right now! Kristen's toys need putting away and well the rest of it looks pretty bare (like I said, I think posting here each Wednesday may well help me get this place looking a little prettier).

I made the wreath on the door for summer this year, but I think it will make it all the way through Fall because of the orange colors. I may add some berries or fall leaves to it later.

And lastly, I like this wall decor I bought last year but only finally hung up this year next to the entrance....

Of course the flowers aren't real. There's no way I could keep real plants alive in this heat in such small pots, they dry out so quickly!

So there you have it, my 'outdoors' this week. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

I must just mention that my friend Cheryl and I had a super time at The Melting Pot on Monday night. I had booked our table on line and where it asked if I had any special requests for our Maitre'd, I mentioned that it was my friend's birthday and her first time there, was it possible to put a candle in the cheesecake when they served up the chocolate fondue dessert? I wasn't sure if they would, so I just thought I would ask. Well, not only did they put the candle in the dessert when they brought it to the table, our waiter wished Cheryl a happy birthday as he seated us and handed her a little card. And right at the end of the meal, the manager/maitre'd came to our table with a little tray and two glasses on it (with strawberry slices on the glass, I might add) and said "I understand we're celebrating a special day today" and gave us both a complimentary glass of champagne :-) We both had a great time and have decided to try and have dinner out once a month so we can sit and chat without having kids or husbands around vying for our attention!