Building a Backyard Eden

Last month, I started to a potted garden on the back porch. I bought several organic seed packets--lettuce, arugula, sweet potatoes, sunflowers, bell peppers, cucumbers and watermelon. To start, I planted the lettuce, arugula, sweet potatoes and sunflowers. The birds ate the sunflower seeds from the pot, but everything else has sprouted and continues to grow.

The one thing about planting a vegetable garden, though, is that it doesn't have the same elegant charm of a flower garden--the romance found in flower gardens surpasses the utility of vegetable gardens. 

So, I bought a peony plant. 

After cutting the first flower, I'm considering buying another peony plant...