You know, Jim, there ought to be a law against your making the rest of us look so bad ----!!! Your garden is just beautiful, as always.

Dang, even the tablecloth has roses.
As usual everything looks lovely.
I especially like the yesterday, today and tomorrow. I remember it from my childhood.

Those are pretty Jim. Thanks for sharing them.

Everything is looking great! How exciting to have all those new beds to plant. One of the beds looks like an outline of Texas. One of these days can you get up on the roof and give us an overall view of the layout?

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Roselee, I'm afraid the 'Texas' look is strictly coincidence. I was just trying to maintain a 3' path, with a slight bulge there at the entrance to the patio. My daughter said the same thing when she first saw it. I will get an aerial view if I ever get caught up. I'm moving roses to that bed today, and I still have an arbor with a swing to build in that circle of grass I left on the back side of that center bed. I've already used 15 yds. of garden soil, and will probably need 5 more to finish.
Jim

I would never get any housework done if my yard looked liked yours. I would be out in it all day.

Sam

Jim, did you lay all those stones yourself?? If I did that, my back might not ever speak to me again! Your flowerbeds are just beautiful. And I'm with Sam -- if those were mine, I would never leave the backyard! :-)

Carla

I was feeling good about my yard till I looked in here :)~~~
I'm not showing Jim my yard it might make he feel ill.

Beautiful as ever.

Well, Jim, you are my inspiration as usual. I love your layouts and color combinations.

How'd you come by that wonderful load of soil? Love the beds. Love the edging material. Guess you're doing away with the lawn? Love the blue/purple is it sage or salvia, I think sage.

Just beautiful!! I love your raised beds and can only imagine how gorgeous it will be when they're filled with flowers!

Denise

Roselee - I thought the same thing about the Texas shape. I can't wait to see what he plants in all those new beds! Jim's yard always looks so good. One gardening friend told me that men often make better gardeners than women because they're able to do all the heavy work. (i.e., lifting all that stone!)

Carla... I did set the stone. 525 of them, added to the 795 I had already. The worst part for me, is filling the beds with a wheelbarrow. Many, many trips!

Chickadee... I bought the soil from a local vendor. It's not quite as good as it looks, or as advertised for that matter, but it's still good. The blue salvia is 'Mystic Spires Blue', a shorter veriety of 'Indigo Spires'.
Jim

WOW Jim I love your new designs! I know what you are talking about when it comes to moving soil. We just purchased 6 yards of leaf compost to spread around in our beds. Beautiful stuff but we had to go to Conroe/Woodlands to get it.
By the way if you like to use boulders as focal points I found a really wonderful cheap place in Texas City that sells them for only 9 cent a pound. We pick up a couple of them the other day. We have a dolly you can use if you decide you want to get some.

A man with a vision! Wow, is that ever going to be a beautiful place. (already is.) I have always admired your cabinetry quality oblisques and lattice work. I especially like the round "moon gate" structure! Thanks for sharing.