patio garden in spring

I'm enjoying our patio garden so much right now. We've been working on gradually adding to it, with an eye to making the view out of our front window a peaceful one. If you can ignore the bright plastic sand toys, I think you can say we've achieved our goal:

The big palm made a huge difference in making the patio feel cool and green. And with the recent rain, our lantana and lavender and geraniums are blooming beautifully:

That lavender is supposedly a plant that should be scantly watered, but it really starts to droop after just a day or two, and looks much happier when its regularly soaked. Look at the dark purple on the side of the blossoms, and those lovely light purple petals on top:

And this lantana is what I used to call "fruit loop flowers":

Other things we have growing - but not yet blooming - on the patio are nasturtiums, irises, a couple more geraniums, another lantana and several varieties of miniature roses. I'm hoping summer will find our patio full of blooms.

And I'm trying to be better about bringing the outdoors in. Here is some of that lavender in a vase above my kitchen sink:

And some lantana in a cloisonné vase in the bathroom:

How are your gardens - patio or yard - doing these days? Is spring coming where you are too?

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell