I have a small suburban backyard in Illinois where I try out everything I can about gardening. Then I take pictures every week or so, to document the beauty, wonder, and adventures I discover. Pictures of my garden can be found at pardonmygarden.wordpress.com or littlebackyardworld.wordpress.com.
Little Backyard World 
Stunning photos! My last post on one of my blogs was written from the front porch of my parent’s farm house in Ottawa, IL. Where in IL are you?
Thank you. I am down in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. Not far from Oak Lawn.
Very cool. My family is from Beverly.
Cool. We are from Beverly originally.
Thank you for visiting my blog & liking a post. I love your flowers and photos. I am such an amateur! But gardening, like life, is the adventure, not the destination. I remind myself of that axiom when I am overwhelmed with weeds or other garden work.
Even though we live in different parts of the US, gardeners have much in common. I will visit more often.
Hey, I am an amateur, too. But having done this blog for over four years I am getting a little better at photography. It sounds like you have some good gardening skills and that always interests me. Like you said, gardening can be pretty overwhelming, but we just need to remind ourselves to enjoy the process and see it as an adventure. Butterflies make it worth the work.
Hi, I love your blog(Your other blog, pardon my garden.) I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. Please check out the following link. http://wp.me/p4Xncq-am Have an amazing day!
Thank you!
You have a beautiful garden there. I have not so much in mine but truly enjoy the happy work of the previous owners. It’s more of a park setting on 2 1/3 acres with native, exotic and fruit trees. Love your bird and insects photos. CC
Thank you! I think my garden is a little too full now. I would enjoy a more park-like setting.
I like your blog, so focused. I left my urban gardens on a small property in Port Angeles, WA in the care of enthusiastic beginner gardeners (renters) and started a garden on my 8 acres in Idaho Rocky Mountains. I photograph nature in gardens and in the wild woods. I see you have built a wonderful natural habitat for wildlife in town. I will include your blog in a new post I am preparing, sharing nature sites I like. Kay skybluedaze.wordpress,com
Glad you found some enthusiastic gardening renters! 8 acres sounds like a lot. My suburban garden is big enough for now, though I like the idea of wide open spaces.
I too have a small garden, but it is amazing what one can find in the form of wonderful and interesting creatures and wild plants, among all the cultivated ones. Enjoying your blog.
Thank you. These days I am feeling like I need to go back and clean things up – like spring or fall cleaning. But I know that the birds and insects like things left a little messy.
Thank you for dropping by and liking my post ‘Purple haze’ – I’m a newbie. I love your photographs of the garden and the critters – especially exotics that we don’t have here in Australia. I agree with you about the ‘no dig’ garden – it’s all about getting the soil right which I’m still working on. My cabbages are just loose leaves and my broccoli is the same but thankfully the spinach is going really well. Diana.
Hi Diana – I have never been very good at growing spinach, so way to go! I tried cabbage a few years ago, and I think the worms got most of it, but maybe I will try it again. I keep learning little by little what works, and yes the soil is sooo important! That and biodiversity, to keep one bug from multiplying too much.
How can I not love a blog that invokes Joe Pye? The start we got from the conservation district sale have been so much of our style of gardening here in New Hampshire, and I can assure you the hummingbirds delight in them on their way between the sunflowers and zinnias.
On top of that, you’re delving into Wendell Berry. Looks like a great way to settle in for the remainder of winter … between rounds of digging out.
Joe Pye weed is fun and just starting to explore Wendell Berry…
I like your idea of taking a photo every week to treasure the progress and journey of the garden.
Thanks! It is a lot of fun to look back at how things have progressed over the years.
Thank you for visiting my blog and for liking one of my posts. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
Blessing to you!
Nice blog! Could you tell me what flower is shown in the foreground of the main photo of pardon my garden? I’m trying to figure out what to have planted in front of my house and know nothing about gardening. Thanks!
Hi Frances – I think you are referring to red hot poker flowers, that are yellow are orange. They are a great accent plant, but quite short lived. If you put them in your garden I suggest you stick them in with other things. The dragon flies like to sit on the sticks once the flowers fall off. In my garden I have them with gaillardia, which are also yellow and orange or red. In the background of the picture is butterfly weed, which the monarchs like. Black-eyed-susans are a yellow flower. Someone at the garden center can probably give some suggestions. Best luck on your garden!
Hello! I just nominated you for the 3 Days 3 Quote Challenge if you would like to participate. You can check out my blog for the rules. https://unexpectedincommonhours.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/3-days-3-quotes-challenge-day-two/
Thank you!
Thanks for noticing Unconcerned Bee. I hope your garden has a colourful and graceful autumn.
Colorful and graceful autumn sounds wonderful!
Thanks for liking my first blog!
Have fun blogging!
Thanks for visiting!
Love this blog! My favorite things are gardening, butterflies and photography. We would probably be friends if you lived in Texas. Lol
Thanks for sharing all of this beauty. I’m looking forward to future posts. For now I will continue on in the archives!!!
Gardening, butterflies and photography are all awesome! I have been busier this year, so have not had as much time to blog, but it is fun to share whenever I can. Thank you and I am sure that Texas is beautiful!
I enjoyed meeting you at the Farmer’s Market in Palos Heights.
If you are ever interested in joining the Palos Heights Garden Club, here is our website:
http://phgc.blogspot.com
Yes! It was fun to connect and thank you so much for the garden club website. I am enjoying looking at the pictures. I might join again when I have a little more time!
Hi, have loved looking at your blog, I love gardening, but don’t have one any more as we are living on a boat in Maryport cumbria
Glad you enjoyed the blog! Living on a boat sounds interesting and adventurous. I lived in the UK for over 5 years a long time ago, but can’t say I ever got to Cumbria.
Thanks for stopping by. I’m enjoying going through your blog !
Great! Thanks! I lived in Japan a while ago, so enjoyed reading your blog, too!
HI, I’m wondering if you can tell us a bit about your choice of JoePyeWeed as a handle – now that I see in today’s post that it is a nice pink flowering weed!
Thanks for all you give us.
Good Question! I don’t really remember why I made that choice many years ago. My best guess is that it happened because I am interested in habitats for insects, as they are food for birds, so I tend to prefer native plants that attract pollinators, etc. I am not sure how “Joe Pye Weed” got its name, but nature likes what we call weeds, so it is good for us to take a second look at these plants, as long as they are not non-native invasive weeds. Anyway, I had a nice cultivar of Joe Pye Weed called ‘Gateway’ that worked well as a tall plant in the back of a border with half-sun, so I probably picked that name as I was digging around for something to use.