Lessons in a Bed of Black Eyed Susan!

We listed our house for sale in early October 2011 and after a slow winter, we received three offers in March and April, 2012.  We accepted one offer, the bank approved it and we closed on June 29, 2012.  So ends a 12 year relationship with a rural property and the garden we worked in.  I am happy to say that the family that purchased the home we built has teenaged children and a great vision for the property!
We are now in a small, 1,600 sq foot rental house in a planned subdivision for the next few years until we find our next project.  Every house has a similar design with a small front yard and a postage stamp fenced in back yard.  I find it surprising that each of the homes in the subdivision has plants, flowers and trees in every spot they can cram them in.  Today as I drove down the street and around the corner I came across a bed of Rudbeckia hirta, (Black Eyed Susan) glowing in the sun.  The rich yellow gold flowers seemed to call to me, and they made me very happy.  I have a friend and a sister that say they do not like yellow flowers and will not grow anything yellow.  I find this hard to understand when there are so many gorgeous plants that bloom in various shades of yellow.  Rudbeckia hurta has a depth and richness that no other plant seems to have.  Looking at the flowers in front of a house very similar to the one we are in gave me a feeling of hope that I can garden just about anywhere and also enjoy borrowed landscape of all the neighbors in this tight little neighborhood.  The plus to being here is the lack of deer!  With a fenced in back yard and an abundance of wine barrels I went a little nuts for petunias!  I have avoided planting summer petunias for many years because it was just too hard to fight with the browsing deer and other critters.  There is a lack of sage rats and burrowing vermin here also, perhaps due to the cat population.  It will take some time to entice the local bird population into the back yard with feeders but we are hopeful that by winter they will learn that we have food for them!  Packing and moving is just plain hard work!  Now that it is over for a few years, I can rest, relax and enjoy a new place and discover surprises like that bed of Rudbeckia!