50 - How does your garden grow...

As long and weary as the winters are in Chicago the summers can make you forget how you cursed this city such a short while ago. Everything comes alive with such exuberance, not just plants, but people, the beaches, the sidewalk cafes, neighbors extricate themselves from indoors and suddenly a backyard becomes lively and full of conversations over the fence.

With our new family member set to make his arrival within the month I have been doing my best to get the garden to a state where I don't have to pay it too much mind. All veggies and herbs are planted and thriving. Thank goodness for perennials which not only make life easy, but are so exciting to watch revive themselves each spring. The only annual planting done at our house is edibles and the two pots on my front step since I can't resist the colors of the coleus leaves. Otherwise it's too much money and work.