What's the Story, Morning Glory?

I tend to slow down on making scrap layouts and projects in the summer. Instead I turn my attention to gardening. Until I get a layout done, here is a portion of one of my gardens. Creativity...garden style:

The photo above is a gravel path I made by myself...no one was dumb enough to volunteer time helping me gather up my free finds. I have smart friends! LOL! The stepping stones are slabs of granite that used to be a wall in an old Snyder's Drug Store. I work in the management office of the shopping center, so I laid claim to half. Ahhh...the perks of working for the landlord. The gravel was obtained when the center's parking lots were being resurfaced. I brought home three pick up truck loads full. Shoveled them in the truck and out with my own two hands. I know...be impressed with my prowess. Gag. The rocks lining the path were free, too, but I had help gathering them. Once people know you like rock they appear out of nowhere to give you all they have. They will even deliver them to your house, if you smile and buy them a case of pop (or drink of choice). Lastly, all the flowers were found via friends, neighbors or freebies sent with online orders. Oh and yes...that would be a stack of tires on the left hand side. Those were donated by my brother when he took off and ran to live in Seattle. He can come back and claim those any time he wants. However, for now I am pretending they are stacked art or a garden seat. I also have a tire hanging on the fence behind where the photo was taken. I filled the bottom with dirt and it now is a container garden. Last year it held coleus. This year nothing. As soon as I plant it, I will post a photo, but for now it is u.g.l.y.

In case you are wondering what drives me to garden, here it is. First, I come from a family of gardeners. My grandma could have been regarded as a master gardener, my great uncle, Russell Johnson, was a professor of biology at Bethel College and my uncle worked for Northrup King seeds for many years until his retirement. Somehow having a link to all these green thumbed people allowed gardening to seep into my blood. However, this drives me more than all that put together. Behold, my neighbor's front yard:

You should see her back yard. I have garden envy. She has a son with bobcat skills. I have bobcat skill envy, too. LOL! Seriously, give me a bobcat and a bit of training and the ideas that are stuck in limbo inside my head would finally be a reality. That would get expensive and scary! Anyway...a few of my neighbors have massively large green thumbs. All this competition gets my blood a-boiling. Game on neighbors...game on.