Love the incredibly saturated color, the textures and that wonderfully spikey center on these classic purple clematis vines!

Crazy cool flowers on this bush in the side garden at Lillstreet. The flowers may be stringy & short-lived… but they were so very cool while they were around. I didn’t know what they were… but with a little help from my dear friend Google… apparently it’s a Bottlebrush Buckeye!

A few more wall pocket planters making the greenery hang higher! Specially made with some drainage holes for soil & plants… usually I make them without holes for flowers in a vase. Loving how this trio has some cascading vines working their magic. Thanks Patty for sharing your green thumb!

More than a little rain as I pedaled through my morning ride. Not much of a sunrise to speak of. Just lots of clouds… and some rain towards the end of my ride. Happy to be greeted by these lilies in the garden across the street when I got home. All of us wet.

A wonderful surprise every year… a crazy-cool spiked flower blooming in my front yard garden! It’s called bear’s breeches, sea dock, bearsfoot or oyster plant. It has really cool leaves and this amazing flower stalk. Such a cool addition to my garden… thanks to my gardening friends down in Peoria!

Even more striking Asiatic lilies blooming in the garden. These ones are right on my street corner! Such a beautiful greeting when I come home!

The asiatic lilies are blooming all over the place. Each more striking than the next. Gotta love this beautiful time of the year!

They may last for just a day… but each of these daylily blooms lends a nice spark of color as they dance on the long stems shooting up from the leaves. Luckily, there are several blooms per stem… so “collectively” the last longer than a day!!!

So excited to see my purple hyacinth bean vines climbing up on my back porch! They’re off to a good start. I love how they quickly wrap & grow up things like my rusted metal “curtain” of gears! I love how the leaves appear to float by themselves – and then the flowers will come later in the Summer, followed by wonderful purple bean pods in the Fall! Which of course I’ll save so I can re-plant the seeds and start again next year!

Thanking Mother Nature for another beautiful surprise on TEXTURE TUESDAY. Who knew that cactus like these could grow naturally in Chicago? I didn’t think they would survive our harsh winters… but I found these growing around Montrose Harbor!