June In My Cottage Garden

In June my cottage garden is regal with red peonies and purple alliums. The burst of strong color follows a gentle May with its pure whites of viburnum and bridal-veil spirea. May followed a golden April full of daffodils. The hues of my June flowers put us in the mood for a riot of color that is the cottage garden when it peaks in July. Today we are in the middle of an early heatwave with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity. This is a good day to stay in the air conditioning and write. But first, let's take a walk around my June garden in the comparative cool of the early morning to see what is blooming.

Miniature Japanese maple -- a superstar by Froggy Pond

Purple bearded irisis are everywhere

Clockwise from top left: mock orange, peony, smokebush, lady's mantle, and columbine

Adding to the purple theme, my new smokebush is leafing-out nicely. It has tiny white blossoms -- who knew? You can just see it's delicate flower in the picture above.

Smokebush Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' and Allium 'Globemaster'

Roses are blooming

The first clematis to flower each year. I don't know it's name.

When describing June in my garden, I have to include rhododendron and mock orange. They bloom early in the month and today most of their petals have fallen. The blooming rhododendron was magnificent this year; the mock orange filled the June air with its heady scent.

Rhododendron 'Roseum Elegans'

Below: Mock orange Philadelphus coronarius

I placed a tub of mixed annuals in pastel shades on the front porch. Their gentle hues offer visitors a sweet-tempered greeting.

Walking through the Serenity garden I am happy to see the climbing hydrangeas have some blooms. I'm not so happy to see multiflora rose beyond Bluebell creek. Its flowers are lovely and its scent is divine, but we wish we could eradicate this invasive shrub, our biggest gardening challenge. I wrote about it in detail here.

Serenity Garden above; Bluebell Creek below.

Bathing in a mound of golden spirea that is just beginning to bloom

We will NOT go into the Woodland Walk since that's where the bear may be hiding out. He came onto the back porch and broke my favorite hummingbird feeder to drink the nectar. 

Black bear leaving my porch and heading for the Woodland Walk.

Finally, let's check out the kitchen garden where the vegetables I sowed germinated. What a miracle it is -- I'm always anxious that they wont and I'm filled with excitement when they do -- it never gets old. Blossoms on the snow peas promise we'll have some tasty meals very soon.

I'm linking with Carol at May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Don't forget to stop by her wonderful blog on the 15th -- thanks for hosting, Carol. I can't believe that we are nearly half way through June and I'm only just posting pictures of my garden. In my head, I have written several blog postings this month, but the weeks pass before I can put pen to paper (or fingers to keys.) At the beginning of June I visited a fabulous garden that I must tell you about. As a result of that visit, and previous conversations with the owner who is my friend Jenny Rose Carey, author of Glorious Shade, I'm struggling to clarify my feelings about mulch. I may be having a change of heart about what sort to use. I'll put my thoughts in a posting very soon. Also, I've been enjoying some new gardening books that I must share with you. Just not enough hours in each day, but I will endeavor to catch up ...

Oh, and please read my contribution to the Garden Writing Association's blog, GWA Grows, about what makes a great blog. The article has tips from me and from some other bloggers you may know, including Carol from May Dreams Gardens.

Enjoy June, dear gardening friends.

Pamela x

One of my five fairy gardens.

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