Short and Sweet - a fun garden surprise, and a new fence

First, the construction behind us is almost done.  They are working on the landscaping, and part of that was installing a fence along the entire back of the property, which included my back fence line.

So, I have a new fence on the other side of my chainlink fence!

It's actually a nicely built cedar, dog-eared boards, and it smells wonderful!

It's terribly tall though.  Very tall.  The elevation was raised a bit during construction, so on their side I guess it's not extra tall. 

 

It feels really strange to be penned in!  Before I was a little self-conscious back there working in the garden, like I had to comb my "bed head" and wear a bra!  It's kind of nice!  Now I envision some chairs out where we never sat before!  The chainlink will become a trellis, and most of those many blocks and bricks still in the carport will make several beds!  Raspberries?  

The view of the mountains is not affected.  As shown on the plans approved by the city way back before I move in, the center area right behind my yard is open area.  The new duplexes are on either side.

Now, the surprise!  Well, not so much to you, but to me!  What I thought was bee balm in the Pollinator Garden is actually wild basil!  I had seeds for wild basil, I tried to Wintersow it, without success.  So, either I threw some seeds in the Pollinator Garden, or more likely, when I gave up on the milk jugs I probably dumped the soil in the bed, as it was mostly empty then.  

I figured this out because of something that is growing behind it, a definite balm of some type!

 Another waiting game to find out what kind!  Bee balm was included in the Dollar Tree seed mix, and I tried to Wintersow, again without success, Spotted bee balm, or horsemint.  My other bee balm is Panorama Red Shades, and its flowers are so much different from this.  Lemon bee balm, a favorite of mine last year, but an annual, looked much more like the wild basil!  It's confusing because they are all in the same family.

 

So, that's my fun garden surprise!