June: June showers bring June flowers

What a lot of rain we've had this year! What an exuberant growing season! It never ceases to amaze me how much biomass plants can accumulate in a short time, turning plain old air into pounds and pounds of lush green leaves. Anyone who is not fascinated by these organisms that are the foundation of most ecosystems on earth is just not paying attention!

Since the growing season began, my native asters and sunflowers have grown to shoulder height and the sparse plantings I was fretting about are now so packed in that I'm cutting out hunks of greenery just to get some airflow. Every time I walk into the yard I want to hug myself with joy over how green and alive everything looks. Better Home and Gardens won't be doing any full-page spreads of my mishmash of plants and my lawn full of dandelions and strawberry plants, but the garden represents over 15 years of toil (and expenditure) and I love it all. Except for the earwigs.

Carpathian harebell, Campanula carpatia 'Pearl Deep Blue'


Purple bee balm, Monarda didyma 'Violet Queen'


A volunteer pumpkin. Thanks, squirrels.


Hemerocallis NOID, blooming for the first time in years because I finally moved it into a sunnier spot


Clematis 'Jackmanii' again, because I can.

June: Bloom Day

I took a bit of a gardening break for a while but decided to make an effort this Bloom Day, if only because I have a compulsive need to show off my Clematis 'Jackmanii'.

Can you blame me? Rumor has it there's a coachlight in there somewhere.

In other parts of the garden, bright yellow and orange brighten the rainy, cloudy days...

Lysimachia punctata, yellow loosestrife


Hemerocallis 'Stella d'Oro'. I know that "real" gardeners are supposed to sneer at these but come on! Look at that buttery yellow!


The northside garden, where the Asclepias tuberosa is in full bloom, the Penstemon digitalis is finishing up, and a bunch of other things are getting oh-so-close.


Coreopsis lanceolata

And it's not a flower, but a rabbit nest "bloomed" in the raised garden between the tomato and the cucumber while we (and the dogs) were out of town for the weekend. It was quite a work of art, a good 8-10 inches deep, and Mrs. Bunny somehow hauled in a soccer ball-sized wad of grass clippings for carpet and roof. You have to admire the savvy mama who made her home in a salad bowl.


Thanks, as always, to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day!