While walking into work today, I was waiting at the light on the corner of 9th Avenue and 25th Street.  Looking up the avenue to see when the traffic would clear, I glanced down to the planting bed at my feet. Voilà! This is what I found right under my nose.

Besides being a refreshing blast of color and vitality, it's also a very nice design. I love the blend of perennial grasses, flowering perennials, and loads of happy, healthy annuals, with the yucca at the center of the bed like a radiating "eye" that everything else is built around. I'm usually hesitant to mix lots of colors, but I'll endorse any combo when it's grown well.

The city feels just like a giant hot plate right now and that plays havoc with lots of plants as they try to muscle through the dog days of summer. In fact, we address this issue of helping your garden through the hottest parts of the season in the latest August issue of Martha Stewart Living.

But today I want to share this happy, healthy planting with you all and give a tip of the garden hat to the phantom gardener (gardeners?) who's done such a great job of caring for this planting. Bravo!