My garden friends: Bob, Jack and Stella

This is Bob. She was wondering why I was taking pictures so early in the morning and not lovin' on her instead. She's a good ol' girl.

This is my Jackmanii clematis in full bloom. You can just call her Jack, for short. Isn't she beautiful? We can't seem to find a trellis large enough to allow her to spread out, so she just has to kind of bunch up and hang over this one.

A little more up close and personal.

This is one of my Stella D'Oros. She's pretty stunning herself, and one of my favorites because of her prolific blooms. She just keeps truckin' on all summer long!

And this is affectionately referred to as my 'Yellow Stuff'. My sister gave me a start of this, just a handful, a few years ago and I now have it everywhere! I adore this stuff! It is a wonderful ground cover with a beautiful mounding habit, like a little cushion of yellow blooms.

Remember when I posted the pic of the front of the house and I had that empty chair sitting by the front door? I promised then that there would be some type of planter on it the next time I posted photos and I don't break promises. This is an old ceramic-coated metal pan that I found years ago at a flea market. These plants must really like their new home because they are growing like wildfire since I put them there! There is also a beautiful coral geranium behind them that doesn't happen to be blooming at the moment, but I'll try to snap another pic when it is. Behind the ceramic pan is a galvanized pail.

And last but not least, this is another lily. This baby gets to be over 5' tall before the summer is over, and she blooms beautifully and much. We have these planted at every fence post along the backyard but most of them don't get quite as tall as this one by the front porch railing.