A friend of ours recently moved and we gave him a hand with doing his own little oasis and garden, and in return he gave us feet ! He had 4 lovely stepping stones in the shape of feet that took up too much of his space (we converted it into a small garden) that we brought home and installed as the "Foot path" to the Oasis. It was a lovely exchange and I couldn't be happier with the result. 
Last year was the first try with some Canna plants in the jungle, and this year there was a new variety that I wanted to give a try. Since mid July we have been getting a continual supply of beautiful orange flowers that are a bright shock of color against the pale green. 
I love how the red in the Swiss Chard jumps out with the vibrant red Dahlia beside it. It's just goes to show that even mixed and eclectic gardens can be as much a feast for the eyes as they are for the stomach. 
Here's a look towards the back of the jungle from the inside of the Oasis. As you can see it's great to have the walls of vines that surround the yard, and with the fountains and greenery it's like being elsewhere, truly an Oasis in the city. 
Here's a lovely view of home from inside the new deck area (the oasis). It has been a great pleasure to have the new space (and to better utilise part of the garden area for our benefit). Now if only the weather would cooperate a bit more it would be even better. 
The lovely thing about gardens is how they change and evolve over the season, and as you can see the view just off the kitchen is a feast for the eyes at this time of the year. It's hard to believe how stark and bare it can look in the winter and in the space of a couple of months have so much life. 
The great thing about gardening is getting the fresh herbs and veggies. The climbing zucchini is growing like crazy and there are tons of blooms and babies. The other night I gathered up peppers, eggplant,zucchini, tomatoes and beans (and a ton of fresh herbs) to make dinner. You can't get fresher than that! 
This lovely plant that I tried out this year has been producing some very pretty white flowers. No surprise with the name as the shape of the flowers is exactly that, like the neck of a goose or swan and very elegant. 
From the back of the garden, a lovely view of the deck off the kitchen. On the right is the Rudbeckia, on the left are the magic beans and in the middle is the deck. 
I planted some Rudbeckia this year and it is doing great ( I can't believe how quickly and tall it grew) and the flowers are a very pretty yellow and I see the similarity with other coneflowers such as echinacea. It will be nice to see how it fills in over the upcoming seasons. 
The Echinacea is even fuller this year (it has been a great year for the plants with all the wet weather) and there are a ton of flowers and butterflies around the yard. 
I got a nice shot of the main garden area (and you can see how the vines are everywhere) from up on the 3rd floor of the apartment building. The lower left hand corner is the deck and gazebo off of the kitchen and you can see the new deck area in the middle of the garden. 
I am not sure if this is some kind of Finch or Warbler (if anyone does know, it would be fun to know) but these birds love sunflowers -- and have been zipping around the jungle for the past few days eating the sunflowers and making some pretty music. They have been driving the cats batty! 
This year we had a bumper crop of wild sunflowers (they are the result of feeding the birds and squirrels) and there was a good dozen that popped up around the staircase. The nice thing is seeing them and then watching the birds and squirrels make quick work of them.
