] I sat on the back porch and picked out a spot up in the field that I could see sitting on my favorite chair on the porch. I dug out an 8' X 8" area, made a square around it with 6X6, put down plastic on 1/2 of the area and made a small brick patio with left over bricks from the house. I bought a cement bench and painted it white to sit on the bricks and then I put a metal sun dail that my Great Grand Father forged while he worked at a foundery up near Erie. I later got a metal arbor for over it from Free cycle. I then dug 2 wings out either side pointing then slightly toward the house. I double dug the beds and used 8 ft long 6 X 6 to make the borders. I planted annuals up there, marigolds mostly, they bloom well, they are draught resistive, they bloom all summer, They were big enough for me to see from the porch, BINGO,, Hold your cards everyone, I think we have a BINGO here, 
Marigolds have worked for me for many years, I find something that works for me, and I stick with it, lol. Some years later my middle son wanted to do something for his senior project in High School, so he extended the garden behind what I had done and formed it into the shape of a butterfly and made a Butterfly Garden up there. I now have 4 butterfly bushes, 2 purple and 2 pink plus alot of perenials, Cone flowers, daisys, columbin, sun drops, peonies, yucca, Hybiscus, holly hock, several kinds of ferns and several kinds of day lillies and several kinds of flowers that I forget what the heck they are, there is also a poppie that I don't know much about. It is wonderful to sit on the porch, or other places in the yard and see the butterflys moving around the flowers up there, it is truely a Joy to me. My son was not as energetic about digging as I am, so he did not double dig the new part of the butterfly garden. I cuss every time I try to plant something new up there because of the rocks he left in, Oh well, things still grow, I mulch it heavy every year with leaves. I am planning on posting some pictures when I get time to take a few. Any free flowers I get just get dumped up there in the Butterfly Garden.[URL=http://s254.
Here is a picture of the Butterfly garden, sort of the view from the back porch, but a little closer.
Here is another view a bit closer.
Here is the patio, bench, sundial and metal arbor with the ferns showing. Some of those are native Pa ferns, some are imports.
I am kind of proud of the sun dial because of the family connection. It spins around on the cement base so its easy to re-set for day light savings time,
Some of the flowers.
[URL=http://s254.photobucket.com/albums
They really have taken over that area. 