Kit and caboodles in her garden

I was visiting with my co-worker Johnny about my love of gardening one day when he suggested, "You need to come over and talk to my wife, Kit - she loves to garden too."

So last weekend I took him up on his offer and went over to their home to admire their garden. We had the best time! We talked gardening, and dirt, and mulch and seeds and everything garden - we were all in heaven! They have transformed their twin home landscape into a caleidoscope of colorful perennials and annuals.

The goal of our meeting was to exchange monarda as I'm an avid collector of all colors. I took home a cutting of Kit's lavender-colored variety and I gave her a chunk of my "Raspberry Wine". We were like two kids trading baseball cards - both giddy to get their coveted favorite player - or plant in our case.

Kit is a lot like me in that we had no formal training in gardening or have taken any special classes. We both developed this affinity for gardening by getting our hands in the dirt. We are on a constant mission to beautify our surroundings. She also told me one of her favorite places to shop was the Plant Ranch too! (See earlier post "Flat Sale"). Indeed, Kit and I were kindred spirits.

Kit had some interesting blooms in garden - some of which were completely new to me that I wanted to share with you, my blogger friends.

Kit raved about her Brazilian Verbena (Verbena bonariensis). Of course, when she said verbena I'm thinking about the trailing plant you see in containers but this was completely different. She said this plant grows in even the worst soil, takes little space in the garden and has an airy feel that doesn't thwart the growth of other plants. I caught a bee on a verbena cluster above. Kit is giving me seeds for next summer. Yes!

This was my favorite of the day - a Bush Morning Glory. I had never seen a ground cover plant quite like it. Kit planted these by seed in June and it was a prolific clump of beautiful blue blooms with yellow eyes. It was fabulous. That's going on my wish list. Love, love, loved it.

Scabiosa or pincushion flower. I'm trying this next year.

Loved the combination of profusion zinnias (which looked WAY different than mine), tickseed and balloon flower. Here's another photo below of the profusion zinnias.

I thought profusions were always small?! They did such a nice job with the rock edging too.

This dainty white flower delphinium "Summer Morning" was front and center in the back bed. (I thought it was nicotiana at first glance).

This perennial lobelia was next to the delphinium as well. I had tried this plant before but the bunnies got it ... (sigh).

This was the oddest looking plant - a "cleome" or spider flower - which Johnny said looked like giant jellyfish. It was huge but a very cool accent in the garden.

Here's a glance at how everything works together....

I hope you enjoyed a look at Johnny and Kit's garden. It was a Sunday afternoon well spent.

Happy Birthday Sasha!