Garden Gone Wild

In case any of you didn't quite believe me in my "Porch Prettiness" post when I said my back gardens were a mess, I'm here to shame-facedly show you what I mean:

It's been less than two weeks since the patio was weed-free -- where did they all come from?!?!?

Can you say, "Jungle"????

I'm not even sure if the thing below is something I planted, or a very large weed! Can anyone enlighten me? It looks like it's going to flower soon, so maybe I'll know then!

That tall thing below is the biggest thistle I've ever seen! I think those are silver dollars growing in front of it -- or are they weeds, too?

Look -- DS3 can't even get through on the path, the weeds are so thick and tall! He's saying, "How can I get to the other side, Mom?"

 We got rid of a sumac a few weeks ago -- and it's like a mythological creature that when you cut off one head, it grows 15 more -- in a whole bunch of different places! (Read: "all over the yard!")

And yet, in spite of the neglect, the gardens still yield prettiness like this:

And this:

The flowers bring life to the table as we enjoy the fruits of DH's labour on a fine summer morning:

Ya -- I'll get to the garden later . . .

What creative endeavours (or work!) are waiting for you, perhaps not so patiently? (I know gardening is a creative endeavour -- but it feels so much like work to me. I like the idea of a garden -- but not so much the work of growing one in the ground :{ )