June brought a yard full of blooms this year. After several seasons of struggling with vegetables—thanks to ever-growing shade from my mature trees (and the ever-persistent slugs)—I've decided to shift my energy toward what’s thriving: my perennial garden and containers of cheerful annuals. But I haven't given up on edibles entirely. A large pot of herbs is growing on my deck, and a few rogue strawberry plants have popped up in unexpected places, which always feels like a nice surprise. But my focus this season is my perennial beds, flowering shrubs, and containers of annuals.
The blooms in my perennial garden this month were
peonies,
irises, foxgloves, roses, rhododendrons,
yellow loosestrife, astilbe, and
cranesbill geranium. Just this week, the
daylilies opened up seemingly overnight. The
mock orange bush perfumed the dooryard for at least a week.
I’ve had to keep an eye on the cranesbill, though—it’s become a bit invasive, spreading quickly into places it wasn’t invited. I’ve been pulling it up by the armful and transplanting clumps to less crowded spots in the yard. It has a strong spicy scent that reminds me of men's cologne. When transplanting it, the air is filled with its fragrance.
Around the patio and porch, my containers are full of
begonias,
dusty miller,
pansies,
petunias, and large
geraniums, which I overwinter indoors each year. Some of the geraniums must be about five years old now.
It makes me happy to see those same plants spring back to life and carry on year to year.
I'm loving the light purple petunias I planted in various spots. If I can find some, I might get a flat of pale yellow petunias to complement them. I love the light scent of petunias on a hot day.
My rhododendrons had loads of blooms and put on a fantastic show in mid-June.
The Red Blaze climbing roses are doing well, as are some wild white roses that volunteer in surprising places. The little pink and red fairy roses are just beginning to open up now.
The
house wrens successfully raised a nest of babies in one of our birdhouses, and a pair of
cardinals nested atop the arbor. Their songs have provided the perfect soundtrack to weeding and watering sessions.
As June turns to July, I’m planning to keep wrangling the cranesbill and deadheading the spent blooms in my attempt to keep everything tidy and thriving.
I may not have vegetables this year, but the beauty of flowers (and a few ripe strawberries plucked on the way to the compost bin) feels just as rewarding.
