This is my view walking to work lately. I know. All you people sitting in traffic jams & concrete jungles, eat your heart out. The yellow flowers are Coreopsis tinctoria and besides being extremely vibrant and beautiful, they can be used as a natural colorant. Here's some gorgeous color samples I found on Pinterest. To dye for, right?
The taller purplish blooms are Monarda punctata, also known as horsemint or spotted beebalm. We harvested all we'll need for this year and still have plenty of blooms left to produce seed for next year. Horsemint contains thymol and is both antiseptic and antifungal which makes it a useful ingredient in our popular Horsemint Soap.