Welcome to your very first Daily Dose of Gardeny Goodness!! This blog has been a long time coming. A little back story....

I spent the last 15 years in my dream job, visiting gardens all over the country, meeting wonderful gardeners, and sharing my love of gardening on a national editorial stage. One of the hardest parts of leaving that job (OK, THE hardest part, if I'm honest) was letting go of the blog I had created, nurtured, and grown for the last 5 of those 15 years. I missed the gardens, but I missed the people I got to hang out with each morning even more. So, what's a lonely gardener to do? Start a new blog, that's what! And so Gardeny Goodness comes into being. It took a little longer than I expected, and I have a whole new respect for website designers, but better late than never, right? Special thanks to Jeff, Cherry, Kielian, Jeanne, Tim, Eddi, Michaele, Sheila, Glenda, Bonnie, Tia, and so many more wonderful people for all of the wonderful support and encouragement. It, and you, mean more to me than I could ever express....

I'm not alone in this endeavor. This time around, I'm joined by my ultimate partner in crime: my awesome hubby, Rob. Rob's a carpenter by trade (formerly web producer, contractor, upholsterer, bus driver, mentor to troubled children, etc. etc. etc.) and an awesome metalworker, and he's the one that makes most of the magic happen in our garden. Seriously, this guy's a DREAMBOAT, and I think you'll love him. You'll also catch a glimpse once in a while of our awesome kid, Kaia, and our oh-so-cute but oh-what-a-pain-in-my-behind pup, Daisy.

Each weekday morning, I'll share one of your gardens, a bit of garden news, or just an interesting little tidbit. The rules are a little looser on this blog (THERE ARE NO RULES!!), so let me know what you like and don't like, and I'll evolve accordingly! Also, send in photos of your gardens! Show us what's happening during your daily walkabouts.

To get us started, I'll spend the next couple of days sharing what's going on in my garden as of Monday morning. I've had just a bit more time to garden this summer..... Today I'll focus on the area around the back of the house. Tomorrow we'll take a look at some of Rob's recent projects. And then we'll start showcasing YOUR gardens! Woohoo!

Welcome to the patio!

I have so much fun designing these containers each year. They are at the entrance to my patio, so I always make them big, bold, colorful, and welcoming. I focus on plants that grow big quickly, like coleus, hibiscus, fuchsia, and some salvias and Sedum rupestre 'Angelina'.

Backed off...

Stepping back to get a broader view of the entrance to the patio.

Island bed

This is the large bed to the left of the walkway. I experiment in this bed a lot. Rob and I have both decided that the Rozanne geraniums (Geranium 'Gerwat') have to go. They are SO SPRAWLY! Any suggestions on what to replace them with?

New sculpture!

This beautiful streaky pot used to be a fountain on the other side of the patio, but it was so darned labor intensive to take care of (set up in spring, take-down in fall, mosquitoes, algae....ick.) that we decided to just empty it and plop it into the island bed. It looked great, but while cleaning up some junk around the yard (we have LOTS) we found two barrel hoops that our neighbor Laura had given us. Laura knew that Rob would find something cool to use them for. He is obsessed with anything metal. I balanced the larger one on its side in the top of the container and anchored it with a big rock on a string hanging into the pot, and Rob hung the smaller hoop to dangle just inside the larger. Because the hoops are slanted, the smaller one catches the breeze and spins! We love it.

Oh lovely heuchera...

One of my favorite flowers. Everyone talks about the leaves, but the flowers are so wonderful! Especially in miniature cut arrangements, where they last forever.

Peek a boo....

These begonias are just about the only things that will thrive under the deep shade cast by the Dutchman's pipe vine under the pergola. In spring they had a skirt of peachy sweet alyssum, but it languished in the shade and disappeared. Daisy likes to watch me garden from the back door.

I lied.

OK, there's one more plant that survives in this heavy shade: New Guinea impatiens. They do the job, but I'm not a huge fan.

Kaia's favorite place

My Japanese maple has to be 100 years old. It's HUGE. Rob hung a swing for Kaia from one of its branches and it's her favorite place to spend some alone time. I have a few little woodland plants planted underneath, like epimedium and maidenhair fern.

It's not an outhouse!!

It's my tool shed! Rob built this for me a few years ago from salvaged materials. He's so HANDY!! It's just the right size for my rakes, shovels, trowels, and buckets. Rob and Kaia painted the girl by the fence a couple of summers ago.

Going next door

We have THE MOST INCREDIBLE NEIGHBORS on the planet. These are the new stepping stones to David and Michael's house. If we walk the path to their yard they give us drinks and snackies and we get to snuggle with their dog, Max. WIN!

Grilling up some dinner...

Here's Rob's grill station where he hangs out with a beer and works his magic. Plenty of room for the neighbors to hang out and drink a beer or a glass of wine with him. We have tomatoes growing int he claw foot tub for the first time, and it's looking like a success so far! I suck at tomatoes. Seriously. Crossing my fingers.

Show us what's happening in your garden!! Send several photos and a little bit of background. Introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your garden. Email me at michelle@gardenygoodness.com. Keep in mind that sending me photos means that you're OK with me posting them here, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Pinterest, and so on, and so on.....you get the drift. Thanks!