Larkspur in fall! How do you manage that? And the callicarpa! And that floaty daisy in the first photo I don't have a name for...Michelle, what a stunning three-season garden you have, and great score on the operating table too. Seeing how these perennials grow for you, I become more and more convinced I have no business growing 90% of them. And that rhus is indeed a beauty. Thanks for posting.

Denise

Oh goodness, what a GORGEOUS series of photos! You have a beautiful setting there, Michelle! You must really enjoy the time you spend outdoors. Your brickwork is lovely too.

Michelle, your gardens are gorgeous!

I hope you don't mind, but I've got it in my head to have my own tropical garden next year - and I plan on having cardoon in it! 5-6' sounds like it makes a big impression :)

The surgical table is definately a good find :)

Your brick edging is very tidy, too! It must make it easier to mow next to the beds....

Thank you for taking the time to give us a tour!

Saucy

Hurrah indeed! It all looks fantastic. I particularly like the potager and the brickwork.

The rhus is on the RIGHT, no? Mine was gorgeous this year too. Love your purple asters with it!

Everything looks fabu-fabu, except your young assistant is missing. :(

How I wish I could grow callicarpa too...

It is all lovely! But I am like Woody, I looked and looked at the left of that pic for the Tiger Eyes Sumac. :-)
But it is a beautiful view. I love the open look.
I love that orange chrysanthemum in the second pic. I have given up on buying new chrys' every fall. Some sort of nasty bug eats off all the blooms if they are outside, and I don't have much room for them inside.
Everything is so neat and orderly! It has been a long time since I could say that about my yard. :-(
Your 'potager' looks a lot like my veggie garden used to. (what is the differance....pottager or veg garden?)
Such a shame that all that exterior beauty has to come to an end.
Your potting building is really a wonderful place, and pretty both inside and out.

Sorry Marie, I misspoke and said Woody when it should have been Marie!

Of course I was trying to get this post organized in a hurry. Sorry about the left/right thing ;o)

Marian, a potager is a combination of vegetables/flowers/herbs. I like to call it that because mentally it makes it more fun for me. When I had just a veggie garden with a rectangular shape and rows, it was my most unfavorite garden.

Mums are easy here and the orange one in the container was actually a cutting that I started this spring when I hacked back some tall ones. I was suprised that they did so well.

Saucy, I'm honored that I've inspired you.

Denise, the floaty daisy is boltonia.

Thanks all for the lovely comments.

Michelle

Maybe I need a potager. A vegetable garden is WORK, as well as being rectangular with rows. Maybe it is becoming one anyway, given all the clematis and roses parked there.

I guess my garden was a combo. It had vegs, flowers and herbs in it, but was rectangular with long rows. I thought maybe a 'potager' was meaning a much smaller area for vegs, etc.
It is some type of beetle that attacks my chrysanthemums. My old fashioned ones are blooming, but they are so spindly. I never get around to pinching them back. :-(

Actually, I have never considered I was a very good gardener since I moved here. I did much better in the Idaho climate, with the irrigation, and lots less insects!
Besides, I was over 30 years younger. :-)

From Wikipedia: "A potager garden is a French method of creating ornamental vegetable or kitchen gardens. Often flowers (edible and non-edible) and herbs are planted with the vegetables to enhance the beauty. The goal is to make the function of providing food aesthetically pleasing.

Plants are chosen as much for their functionality as for their color and form. Many are trained to grow upward. A well-designed potager can provide food, cut flowers and herbs for the home with very little maintenance. Potagers can disguise their function of providing for a home in a wide array of forms--from the carefree style of the cottage garden to the formality of a knot garden."

Michelle, really outstanding photos and such wonderful combos and plant choices. I can imagine how wonderful it must be 'in person' ! I always so look forward to your pics..

Kathy in Napa

Wow Michelle, your gardens are spectacular! I love everything! That brick edging is beautiful and I can imagine how much work that took. Those evergreens are so lovely backing the borders. Thanks for sharing this slice of your world. I'll be coming back for more inspiration.

Denane

Michelle you did a bang up job in the garden this year! Kept everything amazingly neat and healthy. The sumac, the asters, that monster mum...lol. Love the 'potager'...great peppers and fennel. Gee, how are you going to top that next year? :-)

pm2