What is a garden, but one big stage production?
And as any well-grounded director knows, every big theater production is filled with characters.
Here’s the diva, a honey locust tree, bowing to the backyard audience, wowing them with her pale yellow scented spring flowers.
Below her, the stones and grasses, covered with her discarded snowflake-like flower petals, create an encouraging group of extras, allowing her to look her best. Always.
Meanwhile, out in the front yard along the driveway, catmint is stealing the show. He’s the star who has blossomed into his own this year, giving a most dazzling performance.
While on the other side of the front yard, under some birch trees, his understudy waits in the wings, hoping to grow-up and be as famous as his great-uncle over by the driveway.
Around back, the colorful ingénues are content, contained until it is time for their dramatic entrance onto the stage. So young. So pretty.
Near the ingénues, the comedy duo of tomato and pepper sit hopefully. Grown ostensibly for their vegetables, more often than not, these garden stars fall victim to the shenanigans of overly enthusiastic fans such as squirrels and raccoons.
And finally, no production would be complete without a character actor who supports the story. A true thespian, sure of where he is going, the stone path is always willing to allow the other plants to shine. Knowing that without him, there’d be no garden production at all.
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 
What a beautiful garden show at your home! The whole cast seem to support each other very well. You are a great director!
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Beth, I’m more of a stage hand than a director. And I have a sore back to prove it!
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I wish this production would take place in my yard. I don’t seem to have the right director! Beautiful pics of a lovely serene spot. Your yard? If so, you are pretty talented.
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lovetotrav, it’s our yard. And it’s only taken 15 years to get it to look like this! I’m not so talent, as much as I am tenacious. 😉
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Ok. I feel a tad better. 15 years is a long and determined road. But the efforts have paid off! Gorgeous.
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Thank you. Just give yourself a decade or two, allow for almost everything to die at least once because of droughts, then start over with indigenous plants. Gardening is a breeze. Sort of.
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Ha Ha. My husband just planted pumpkins and sunflowers so we have begun. A post on that to come later. They are to keep him company when I am in Egypt!
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Replaced by pumpkins and sunflowers! I like it.
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Thanks… that will be the title for my post. You are so creative! And you will get the credit for it!!
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LOL here. My day is complete. Thanks.
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Your yard is beautiful. I love this time of year. Many of the perennials are blooming and everything looks so green.
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Kate, thank you. I love this time of year, too. All the effort and cost to maintain a garden seem worth it in May and June. Now come July, my enthusiasm tends to wane…
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but the weeds done!
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🙂
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Lovely garden. And don’t you just love the word “shenanigans”? Lot of guesses about where it came from, ‘ … Spanish “chanada.”, a shortened form of “charranada,” “trick, deceit;” or, less likely, German “Schenigelei,” peddler’s argot for “work, craft,” or the related German slang verb “schinäglen”. Another guess centers on Irish “sionnach,” fox.”‘ -English Language and Usage
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la p, I didn’t know anything about the etymology of “shenanigans.” I rather like the word and having a mysterious past only adds to my love for it. Thanks for the info.
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Love the theater analogies applied to the garden. 🙂
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Andra, thank you.
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(Applause) Author! Author!
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evilsquirrel13, why thank you very much.
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Beautiful yard and garden–it looks like a PARK. I have those same color petunias, as well as a deep purple. I couldn’t find any white where I was and couldn’t be bothered running around.
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Margaret, I hadn’t thought of it before, but with these paths around the yard is kind of park-like-ish. I didn’t see any yellow/orange petunias anywhere either. I saw black ones around, but thought that they looked too solemn for the summer.
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Gorgeous. I never thought of nature like that–love the personifications! And the gorgeousness that surrounds you in your yard!
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Thanks Kourtney. Keeping the cast happy can be a bit overwhelming at time. But as long as the diva doesn’t fall over we’re in good shape here!
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Neat extended metaphor! I am frightfully behind on my gardening, and the weeds are taking full advantage.
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nance, thanks. For once, we seem to be on top of this gardening thing. How long that lasts is anyone’s guess!
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What a charming way to view your garden! And a wonderful way to take us on a tour of your beautiful garden. Your honey locust tree is majestic. I was lucky to inherit an old magnolia in my garden. I will think of her (him?) as the diva of the garden now!
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Letizia, thank you. I don’t know how I came to think of our garden like this, but once I did I see cast & crew members everywhere! I’d love to have a magnolia tree. They are grand dames, to be sure. I’m sure that you must enjoy yours.
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Love the title – and all the comparisons. (squirrels and raccoons as overactive fans of the comedy trio! so funny)
That catmint is definitely showy. Always love the waving long leaf grasses contrasting with the stone. (So many of my spring flowering plants just gave up and drowned…I’d replace them, but it’s now very hot and humid with mosquitoes…will simply tilt blinds….oh, I’ve give in eventually)
Beautiful garden!
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philmouse, that catmint has caught everyone’s eye. I always liked it and knew it could be pretty, but this year… wowsa! Many years I’ve just tilted the blinds and let the outside do whatever it wanted to do. However, this year I’m into gardening so I’m taking charge of things. Or at least, I like to pretend that I am. 😉
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Like a cat thrilled with being petted, your garden seems to be purring from all the attention
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