O Marvelosity, Where Art Thou?

Loyal Readers:  I didn't forget to update this blog; it's just that had I posted another update any sooner the cumulative marvelosity of my garden was likely to inflict serious injury upon you.  Much like Moses on Mt. Sinai after he was given the Ten Commandments by God, my garden's radiance would have you setting off Geiger Counters and airport security machines for months.

Now, having given you the opportunity to cool off, I present the latest edition of My Marvelous Garden.

As you can see in the picture below, the hydrangeas are in full bloom.  I'm still not really in love with the way mine in particular look.  If they would fill out a little more evenly I'd be thrilled.

Here is a close up of some of the flowers which, on their own, look great.  I just wish the whole package would come together a little better.

Now lets head around to the back.  

I got a new table for my violets which meshes a little better with the other tables that I have back there.

The impatiens.  Due to the tremendous heat it has been a pretty poor year of them.

My oldest and favorite astilbe at the peak of its prowess.  I have weed matting under the mulch; I think that in the fall I am going to have to cut some of it back to give this fine plant more room to spread.

The back garden.  This astilbe isn't the greatest, I'm trying to get it surrounded with a better mix of flowers so that the flower has a backdrop.  You can see the spiderwort to the right.  I'd like to get some kind of lily to perhaps go behind it.

A new addition.  The tall plant is a wild hydrangea that I found growing in the woods near my house.  I dug up one stem and transplanted it.  This picture was taken only a few days after the transplant, which is why the plant looks so droopy (the Death Valley-esque heat that we've been having hasn't helped either).

The hanging double impatien basket.  I can't give this bastard water fast enough, its like the anti-Gremlin.

Once again, my mighty climbing hydrangea.  Clearly my boy here is going to need some judicious pruning soon.

Another shot of the wild hydrangea.  This is a great spot for it.  Morning sun; dappled shade in the afternoon.

I had this arctic fire plant where the wild hydrangea is now, but it wasn't doing much for me there. As of now I prefer it in the pot.  In a year or two when it gets too big for this pot I will reevaluate my options.

My mighty impatiens vase. Sadly, the heat is doing a number on this model of Zeus-like virility.

Probably the finest back yard in the Western Hemisphere.

More marvelousness.

The latest change.  I added this small garden next to my patio because this is an area that just filled up with dead leaves.  As the hosta fills out it should help alleviate that problem.

Some random annual my grandfather gave me.

Passersby regularly cry and/or break out into lyric poetry when they behold this sight.

Richard Dawkins reconsidered his atheism when he saw this.

Little know fact: Sir Thomas Moore had this in mind when he wrote Utopia.

Ohhhhhh Myyyyy.  

That, my friends, is a 20 year old Banzai tree.  I will explain in the future, but right now you are probably so stupefied that even the power of my words could not bring you comprehend what you just saw.