Tuna, avocado, crackers

Eh, you win some you lose some. The crackers were the best thing.

So there's that.

An acquaintance died. His memorial was held at his small house outside in his small but ample back yard. The back yard was packed with people at the height of it, an unnecessarily desultory affair dragged out by a clergyman interested in drawing interest to himself. And to a loquacious and vapid popular poet. Singularly the most outstanding feature is what had all of us stunned. The entire front and back yards are surrounded with large commercial-size containers stuffed with exotic and tropical plants. 

In the front under trees, elephant ear leaf roll out from different directions filled in with other colorful shade plants caladiums by the hundreds, every variety combined with hostas and vines and other non-flowering tropical plants. 

In the back yard both fences faced with large containers, large as reasonable and close together as possible creating layers of arranged vignettes of mixed flowering plants with vegetable and with herbs, each container a world of its own. 

How I regretted not knowing him better. His garden is inspiring. His Pinterest page featured several such mixed plant containers, and it pictured a book on the subject. I bought the book. The author wrote five. I bought them all and few more and attempted to emulate what I saw at Wade's house. 

I failed. 

Most pots failed three times this summer season. These are the survivors. I killed literally hundreds of plants, some 480, to get this far. I learned a lot in a short time. Mostly what not to do.

It's all on my terrace such as the one seen below, except a little larger. I made the hummingbird feeder. 

There is a fountain in a pot underneath the vine in the corner hidden by the bench.

This is what I am most pleased with. In seven years it is only the second hummingbird that I saw. I had hoped to be ready with a camera right here the next time a bird came. Fat chance. 

And I was!

The screen door is shut. If I opened the screen door the bird would fly off, so the photo is taken through the screen. It's not out of focus, that's the screen door. This one little bird makes the whole project worthwhile.

No it doesn't. But it feels that way.

same photo, closeup.

I'll do better next year.