Mini Garden Tour

Today, we will start in the middle, behind the blacksmith shop with its back porch that serves as my potting shed.   The log structure serves as one boundary of my flower garden, the woods the other. In between I try to stuff in as many plants as I can fit while keeping a couple paths mowed among the beds.  I try to give visitors a choice of directions and views but today you must go where I go and look where my camera chooses.

Years ago my mother gave me this flower, below, but now I've forgotten its name.  It looks so similar to a passion plant that I sometimes call it that, but the plant is short and bushy.  It has slowly spread to about six plants  in ten years.  Admittedly, its growth is hampered by its growing condition.  While the plant grows in good soil with roots embedded beneath a decaying log, the frilly wonder  continually deals with moles or voles beneath it.  I need check weekly that the dirt is still around the plant's roots.  It must also survive long periods without water for I am seldom able towater plants in my garden.  We use a well and a cistern for water so don't have much to waste. Most of the water that my flowers see comes from the rain barrel. It tends to be survival of the fittest.

Please help me name this plant.  It may help if you notice a bud  in the background with distinctive black outlines.

Just behind my mystery flower is the scene below, displaying a kousa dogwood surrounded by hostas heucheras, and various other plants that bloom throughout the season.

A bit further down the path we are met with the flamboyant blossom of a rhododendron

And finally, at the end of our mini tour, near the far wall are some carefully planted bearded irises growing among the wild phlox that grows wherever it chooses.