Welcome to my zone 9 garden. My roots are deeply planted in the sandy soil of sub-tropical central Florida, where the summers are long and hot, but the rest of the year is paradise!

Monday, May 16, 2016

Organized Chaos!!!

As I was strolling through the "sunny butterfly corner" of my backyard the other day, two words came to mind - Organized Chaos! 

Yes, I have become very good at packing the plants into my small space!

So good, that even the walkways are narrowing. All I can say is it's been a GOOD year for Black-eyed Susan's, as they have reseeded prolifically throughout the garden. I did relocate a few into the garden beds, but I love the look of random clumps of flowers taking up space in the walkway.

And, then there's the discovery of a plant that I had forgotten I bought (the lavender Agastache) until its blooms sprung up between the Tropical Salvia and more Blackeyed-Susan's. Uhm, I might be a little out of control!!

 I love it when the blooms of plants intermingle together in one beautiful blooming feast for the eyes. 

Red Pentas, Black & Blue Salvia take front stage with, of course, more Black-eyed Susan's in the background. Pure Joy!

More heirloom red Pentas and Wendy's Wish Salvia are blending together on the south side of this area, while MORE Black-eyed Susan's have jumped the border and planted themselves between the border grass and the walkway.  I will tame these prolific little beasts back later this year, but for now they are a welcome addition and the butterflies and bees are lovin' them!

After seeing the photos above of what I call 'Organized Chaos' - you might be thinking that a better description would be 'Utter Chaos!' But, I beg to differ! 

According to the Collins Dictionary, the definition of 'organized chaos' is "a complex situation or process that appears chaotic while having enough order to achieve its goals." 

My goal for this space is to have plenty of nectar plants to keep as many butterflies, as possible, happy - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

 Miss Makayla loves our 'wild little jungle!' Sometimes she's hidden away beneath the plants, and other times she oversees her blooming kingdom from up high.




10 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I love your organized chaotic space, a style I love.

It is always wonderful to have 'volunteers' in our gardens.

I do hope you are getting my comments. When I post one, I get a notice saying undeliverable or something like that, every time. I get the same thing when I try emailing you. Don't want you to think I am ignoring you, because I'm not.

I always enjoy seeing your FL gardens.

We just had some glorious rain earlier. Yay!

Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

Susan said...

Hi Lorraine, I always get your comments (but no emails) and enjoy reading them. I'll have to check and see what email address I have posted. We finally had some rain last night, too. We really needed it as everything around us was looking parched. Thanks for visiting me and for always leaving a comment. I truly do appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your organized chaos! You know the more plants . . . the less space for weeds! At least that's what I keep telling myself. :-)

Your garden is just beautiful ~ I really like the natural looking pathway. I didn't know Black-Eyed Susan's reseeded so easily. I'll have to pick up a few to give my salvia a run for its money.

Have a great week.

Anonymous said...

Hi Eli, I knew you would love my chaos because you have lots of butterfly plants packed into your garden, too. If you look closely, you can see pellitory weed growing at the bottom of (I think) the first pic. I left it there this year since you said it's a host plant for a specific butterfly. When my sister saw it she said, "you better get that weed out of there before it takes over." I'm really loosening up - letting some weeds stay, including Spanish Needle which I might end up regretting. LOL! Yes, definitely get a Black-eyed Susan. Apparently I must have shaken the cuttings around pretty good when I cut them back last year, unless the birds helped me by spreading them around when they ate them. They're lots of fun!

Janice said...


Hi Susan, I love seeing all those beautiful plants rambling around together...a very natural look. And garden paths should always be infringed on by plants. Yay for the rain, we got some too...hoping for more today. _Janice

Susan said...

Hi Janice, I definitely agree that some plants should infringe on the walkways. I like unplanned surprises. So happy it looks like the rain is starting. Yards are drying up pretty badly around here.

Leslie Kimel said...

Hi Susan, I'm a big fan of this style of gardening too. I love the sheer abundance of flowers, the way the beds are just bursting with colors and textures. So lovely and romantic. You must have so many butterflies!

Susan said...

Hi Leslie, Romantic is a good way to describe an abundance of flowers. I like that!! We do have a lot more butterflies this year, and I really enjoy watching them floating around the backyard.

daisy g said...

It looks lovely to me. I'm sure the pollinators don't care what it looks like, they just enjoy the bounty of blooms!
Enjoy the summer rains which have arrived early!

Susan said...

Hey Daisy, You're absolutely right! The pollinators don't care what it looks like. I am definitely enjoying the rain. What a relief!

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