Final garden pictures of the season?

I got my new fountain set up today and took pictures of the late summer gardens. It occurred to me that these may be about the last pictures of this year's gardens. Many things are past their prime now, some are still looking good, others are just way overgrown. It's that time of year. It's time to take stock of what did well, what doesn't need to be repeated, and to begin thinking about next year. 

But first, the day started with my two mile walk, today just with Della.

This is my new fountain. It's sculptural in nature. Three gurgling water spouts that spread out over wave-like undulations before spilling over the edge into the stone reservoir. It doesn't show that well in the photos, but it's unique and I really like it.

This stone arch made the perfect base for the new fountain.

This is the pyramid garden, so full and overgrown that you can't even see the three tiered plant stand in the middle of it.

My little girl, Maya.

This purple plant has outdone itself this year.

The birds aren't actually part of the fountain but I think they go with it very well. I think this fountain will be very popular with real birds as well, for both drinking and bathing.

This is the flamingo garden, but the flamingos are pretty much buried in the foliage now. The cannas have done well. The sun coleus is shrub-like.

Paisley and the flamingos

This is the best bloom I got out of the all the dahlias I planted this year. I don't think I'll plant them again next year. 

My goal for the garden every year is for it to be bigger and better than the year before. By that measure this year was definitely a success although there are still things I didn't do or didn't finish that I had planned. That's just the nature of gardening. There's always next year.