Tour: the right

And on the right. This side has fence issues -- it would be great to cover it. But more on that later. In the very foreground is a new ornamental grass. At the very bottom are bleeding hearts, that Betsy planted last spring and which came back this year and are really happy. You can't see them, but in the very beginning of this section is one of the two remaining wedding hydrangeas -- more on them later. Then is an area where I accidentally painted a bunch of purple stuff this year: a creeping hardy geranium which is really happy, and a plant I don't remember the exact title of: a balloon flower. Sprinkled in there is also the ever present amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus). One thing you can just get a glimpse of is a fun orange flower (Butterfly Weed, asclepias tuberose). It was a bit pesky, but worth it for the brightness of its colors. It responded well to being deadheaded and cut back.

The spiky iris bulbs form a natural separation between that area of the bed and the next spot. I've tried planting a bunch of stuff here, some has stuck, some hasn't. In the rear of this one you see the flowering quince bush, one of the very first plants to go into the garden in spring 2006. It has pretty peach flowers that last about a week in early spring. In front of that I have tried a bunch, what's blooming now is Rudebekia (the yellow ones in back), from Maine this year. Behind them is Salvia. And in the foreground is the oh-so-terribly-successful Lantana ("silver mound"). It says it's perennial! As you can see, the theme here this season was yellow. That's partly the reason for putting the salvia here, a bit of variety.
Speaking of fence cover? Here is what is working to some extent: climbing peas. They needed a lot of support to get going (and wound their way around some plants that then got a little strangled), but eventually did well when they found the fence and climbed. Very late in the season they put forth pretty red flowers (here wound in with the honeysuckle on the other fence), that then turned into giant pods.