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.I thought it would be fun to try to put some perspective in the space and try to give a better view of our little green corner of the universe. It's not the best quality, but an interesting experience and hopefully enjoyable!
We have been on a bit of a blitz this year and have refreshed the dining set (they love us at Loblaws) and made a more comfortable space for dining and relaxing. Things are much more comfortable and we are hoping for a good season.
We reworked the entire area in front of the deck off the kitchen, adding space for more flowers and plants, and added a Bouganvillia, which I hope will go wild and we will have even more vines everywhere.
Not only is the furniture multi-functional (it can be benches or chaise longues), the space is great for relaxing with friends, reading or doing yoga. I can hardly wait for all the warm weather and the chance to be outside more for the season.
As part of the changes for this year, we put together a new deck in the middle of the Jungle so we could enjoy the space more, and it makes a great place to relax.
Things got moved around a bit (we have claimed more of the yard for chilling out), and the back wall is coming along nicely with all the ferns, vines and the birdbath. The ferns have all exploded this year and after only a couple of years have spread all over the back corner.
It was a cool and rainy week, but we finally managed to finish the preparations and get the Jungle all planted and ready to go for the season..JPG)
The Apple Tree was in it`s full glory this year, and we had tons of blooms. Hopefully there was enough bees flitting around (there are less this year and I find that very concerning). The season has started off cooler than wanted (such a weird winter and spring) and things finally seem to be getting more seasonal.
It's so nice to have some color outside! The tulips and other bulbs are all coming up, and there are signs of other annuals popping up.
Here's a closer look of the little monster as he explores the tree and tries to get at those birds. It's hard to believe that it has already been about one year since Romeo arrived in the yard and has made it his new home. Although he is not the biggest kitty (Houdini is huge compared to the other 2) he is very fit, active and loves his creature comforts. 
Try as he might, Romeo can't get high enough to catch those pesky pigeons (and as you can see there are a couple of dozen of them up on the wires). Just wait until spring... I have the feeling he will be scaring them off (or worse) once the snow is gone. 
Angelina is finding it hard to get around all the white stuff and is pretty much ready for spring as well... it's March right? 
All of us are pretty much getting to the point of being so tired of winter and eager for spring, and Houdini is less than thrilled by even more snow. Not only have we had the winter with the most amount of snow in ages, we have had the most amount of snow for a February in years and started March off with even more, and the threat of another big storm this week.
