Late July Garden Photos - Overgrown Green Jungle?

Is it August already?  This summer is flying by so quickly.  Although we can't complain in Vancouver, we have had an amazing stretch of hot and dry weather.  So at least we have really had a summer!  Here are a few very recent photos of my garden.

Looking at this side, I wonder why the peach is referred to as a "fuzzy navel", since it sure looks more like a "fuzzy rear end" (click any image for a slightly larger view):

I can't help but visit my one little peach every time I go into the yard.  I keep taking photos, since I'm sure that the squirrel will pick it before it is fully ripe.  But even so I still hope that I will get a taste of it myself.

The grapes are looking very promising.  I'm hoping that I will have a small taste of all 3 varieties this year.  We'll see:

We hosted a BBQ last weekend for some 60 - 80 people, and I got many inquiries and comments on my garden.  But my husband, who tries but can't seem to appreciate what I am creating back there, recently told me that I have too much green and not enough "flowers", and it has all grown too large.   Hmmm, what do you think?  This is a view from the 2nd floor balcony, looking into the back yard:

It is true that I am crazy about foliage, and very strictly "don't do annuals", which tend to be the brightly coloured bloomers.  But I think there are lots of neat flowers and foliage when examined a bit closer.  Such as these pretty coneflowers from the "Cone Crazy" collection:

These Kwanzo daylilies form a pretty good patch of orange:

As do these other unnamed daylilies from my friend, whose name is also Lily:

I have oriental lilies also, most of which are fragrant, too:

And yes, I like foliage, like the large rough hands of the gunnera reaching up to the sky in the corner of my yard:

This lacey japanese maple cascading softly over the hard concrete wall (with the spiky balls of globe thistle standing tall behind it):

And I have some garden decorations.  Not lots, but some well placed decorations such as this dragonfly, perched high above the bold leaves of the Rodgersia:

I really like this corner of the garden.  It has a few colours too.  I see pink and white and yellow.  And lots of textures and shades of green.

And how about this view up the steps?  Even without counting the orange, blue, pink, white and purple flowers, there are reds and purples and silver-blues in the foliage too.

 And then there are our newly-placed birdhouses, which are very colourful:

 What do you think?  Do I have enough flowers and colours in my garden?  Or is it just a big overgrown jungle of too much green?