Sunny, shady.

I like having areas in the sun and the shade: a greater variety of plants can be grown.

In the sunny driveway bed (from left to right) snapdragons, liatris, irises, sedum, monarda, (recovering) columbine, echinops, daylily and a rose. There's a forest grass tucked in there too, mostly shaded by its companions. Along the east side of the house, getting sun in the morning and early afternoon only: hydrangea, hostas, astilbe, ferns, forest grass, lobelia, quince, aruncus, hardy orchids, and pulmonaria (those silvery beacons in the lower right of the picture)
Lots of trial and error required, but both sun and shade can welcome a variety of beautiful plants.

Red Container

The new red container by the deck is filling out very nicely. I bought it in late April and filled it with annuals and tropical bulbs in early May. Bright red salvia have bloomed nonstop, and the superbells and silver dichondra spill over the front edge. Canna anchor the back (and I'm hoping they'll get even taller?) A calla and pineapply lily are in there too, but they may not have enough room to breathe...

On the way up, or down, or just holding steady.

The red japanese maples are starting to green out a little bit. I know that color-fastness is a trait that is admired in the garden, but I actually find this look pretty as well:The hosta right by the front door is making a late appearance for blooming. These flower stalks are now at least three feet high, towering over the plant itself.
Many of my columbines were attacked by columbine sawfly, some suffering just a bit and others (like the one pictured below) being completely defoliated. I'm happy to see new growth returning at the base of most of them.
The oakleaf hydrangea knocked itself over again this year with enormous blooms. They start out pure white but are now fading to green and pink, looking fabulously old-fashioned.
I'm especially pleased with the smoke tree this year. Last year I thought it was maybe on the way out, having been planted into a hole chipped through mostly rocks. But it just needed to get its roots down - the new growth this year is awesome (some branches grew several feet!)
Many of these plants will also put on a show in the fall as an added bonus. In mid-July that seems pretty far away, though.

Annuals

There will always be room for some annuals in the garden.

Sometimes it's very deliberate, like the elephant year on the left, carefully overwintered inside:Sometimes it's moderately deliberate, caladiums bought on a whim and placed with little care around the garden (they take forever to come up, but look great once they're here).
The petunias were very spur-of-the-moment, planted late and as a space holder in the new retaining wall.
A calla lily is a first this year. I liked the spotted, dark edged leaves even before the bloom appeared.
All the leftover shamrocks got tossed into an extra planter. They're just starting to fight their way to the surface now.
Planted earlier, these shamrocks look good nestled up with a japanese painted fern.

Ugh: Japanese Beetles

Where there's smoke:There's fire:
Bastardly bugs. The have favorite plants (hollyhocks and roses are among them) and will skeletonize leaves and destroy flowers. Milky spore is supposedly a natural, if slow control, but researchers seem pretty ambivalent about its success in the field.
Mainly it's a matter of making the rounds and picking off all the beetles you can find (dropping them into a can of soapy water seem to be the preferred method of killing them). They've been manageable under this scheme, but certainly not welcome.