JoG...I'd love to take credit for the gardens but actually all I did was weed and water them. My father in law, who is two doors down, is a gardening nut. You should see his yard. He has WAAAAYYY too much time on his hands. For the last 7 years he has won some city-wide garden award hands down. I had very strict instructions on how to water, how and what to weed, etc. This is to a person that can't make an indoor plant live.
I know he does what is called layering. He could tell you the growth height of any flower and make it look like a waterfall of colors. So I've got tall ones in the back, then getting smaller down the slope, although there is no slope, it just appears so.
But right now, it's covered by 6 feet of snow so the effect is diminished.
Abbey