Happy June!

♫ June is Bustin Out All Over ♫

June is here and one half of 2018 is about to be over!  Seems like the days are flying by quickly.  We've had a wonderful amount of rain that my garden truly loves.  Unfortunately there have been places not too far from us that have experienced severe flooding.  Our area has mostly been spared, except the usual streets close to the river.  Today as we traveled across the Rappahannock River it was a angry, muddy, swollen mess of trees and branches rushing downstream.

The Jackmanii Clematis is blooming earlier than usual.  I think it really likes the rain.

I cut back all of the clematis rather severely in late winter as they really needed it. They have managed to come back and almost cover the trellis again.  Nature never ceases to amaze me!

The Oakleaf Hydrangea is beginning to bloom.  We bought this shrub many years ago at Monticello.  It appears to like this spot and we enjoy seeing it from our patio.

I clipped a few blossoms to put on the dining room table yesterday.  Do you take cuttings to bring inside?

This little area is our view from our patio.  The Stella D'Oro daylilies are beginning to bloom as well as the Rose Campion.  The Gayfeather Liatris will be blooming soon.  It's my plan (ha ha) to have something in bloom all season.  Plants have a way of teaching humility!

My sister gave me seeds to lamb's ear years ago and that's what we thought this plant was.  She has a huge patch of them and told me to make sure I really wanted them.  After researching the bloom I found it was not Lamb's Ear, but Rose Campion.

In our large perennial garden the Astillbe is emerging as well as thousands of Rudbeckia.  I've been removing them to the trash and am considering getting them out of this bed. Too much of a good thing can take over.

Can you see the small bee that happened to show up on the Astillbe when I took these pictures?

This is an afternoon shady garden that really likes ferns and various other shade loving plants.

This Pulmonaria is safe with this bunny, unlike the ones I've shown you earlier.

The last of the peonies have all bloomed except this one lone blossom.  I'll miss bringing them indoors.

This male cardinal comes back to the apple feeder that is full of his favorite safflower seeds.  The squirrels don't like them so it's a win-win at this little feeder.

The male robin visits this bird bath often to clean his feathers and take a bath.  We so enjoy sitting on the patio and watching his antics and the others enjoy our little garden.  Now if I can just stop seeing all the work I should be doing in the garden, instead of relaxing!  Happy June! ♥

June Flowers

I promised that I would not focus only on our trip so I thought it would be fun to take a look at my garden as it evolves this month.
As lovely as spring is in our garden, June happens fast and furious.  The weather in VA turns hot quickly. We are now experiencing 90 degree days coupled with humidity. It's a challenge to garden in this weather.  So I must do what I can in the early morning hours.

When we returned home I was happy to see everything alive and well.  Even though I missed Pinkie rose blooming on the trellis, I see that it bloomed its heart out.  The back perennial garden was quite over grown.  I had to remove plenty of Bishop's weed and more rudbeckia that reseeds itself with abandon.  Cutting back the columbine and saving the seeds is a major task. Unfortunately upon our return we have been suffering with colds and generally not feeling well. Still, there is much to do.  Right now all that I'm able to do is water pots of annuals.  Samuel did a great job of that while we were gone.

Pinkie rose trellis and side garden

Overgrown perennial garden 

Oakleaf hydrangea and Pink astilbe

St John's Wort and bee

Stella d'ora lily and potted begonia, coleus and geranium

I was so surprised to see a green pepper already in the raised bed!  The tomato plant is growing like a weed! This is the extent of our vegetable garden other than a few herbs here and there.  We have mostly shade and therefore not many vegetables grow under those conditions.  The sunniest spot in the yard has these raised beds that Grayden built for me.

Green pepper and tomato plant and basil

Because many of my perennials are spring flowers, I like to plant annuals in pots to give color. I usually buy the smaller annuals and watch them grow during the summer.  Here are a few that I have in the front of our home.  They are already much larger than when first planted.

Notice the potato plant in the black pot on the left-a gift from compost!

We've had quite a bit of rain in the last month.  Mushrooms are really beginning to emerge in our lawn.  We need to add lime to our lawn this fall.  Mushrooms to me are beautiful in their own way.  Of course, I would never eat them as I am not an expert on mushroom safety.  Did you know that Beatrix Potter loved to paint mushrooms?  She was fascinated with them!

"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul."  Luther Burbank