June 2018 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: June is Bustin' Out All Over

 June is Bustin' Out All Over

March went out like a lion

A Whippin' up the water in the bay

Then April cried and stepped aside

And along come pretty little May.

May was full of promises

But she didn't keep them quickly enough for some

And a crowd of doubtin' Thomases

Was predicting that summer'd never come.

But it's coming by gum ...

Richard Rogers

Carousel

With summer less than a week away, my gardens are 'bustin' out all over.' I grabbed my camera and headed out early on this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day to record some of the beauty.

The window boxes along the tractor shed are beginning to fill out.

Roses and clematis have replaced the peonies and alliums of early June. The rose blooms, however, are more sparse than usual due to the very harsh winter that led me to cut most of them back to the ground. The bright purple alliums, now a more delicate mauve color, are forming their seedheads.

Left: Allium 'Globemaster' today. Right: Peonies and allium on June 1.

Climbing rose, Blaze Improved, and clematis. Beyond them are fading peonies.

David Austin rose (Rosa 'Olivia') blooming behind Edward, the new horse sculpture

The Cottage Garden is flaunting some blue/purple perennial geranium flowers, golden potentilla blooms, and pretty pink spikes of Veronica. In the shade, my astilbe is opening its white plumes.

Perennial geranium 'Roxanne'

Top: Potentilla.  Bottom left: Astilbe sp. Right: Veronica sp.

A wonderful spot to enjoy all this beauty is the new bench next to the pond. There are some pretty blooms there, but none more lovely than the velvety, purple water iris.

Froggy Pond

Water iris

Two of my favorite cottage garden plants, hollyhocks and delphiniums, are bustin' out. One of the delphiniums has it's first blue flowers opening. Believe it or not, that little cutie is a Pacific Giant. Oops, I guess it didn't read the label.

 Pacific Giant Delphinium with hollyhocks behind it.

The catmint, always reliable, made an early appearance in it's full-sun area. The spirea
 is blooming in the Serenity Garden even without full sun.

Catmint (Nepata 'Walkers' Low')

Spirea 'Golden Mound' with it's pretty pink flowers.

 I planted ladies' mantle in several spots. It's lacy, yellow blooms lighten shady areas.

For years I thought the groundcover with variegated leaves was the invasive goutweed and couldn't understand why it wasn't aggressive in my garden. I now know it is variegated masterwort, a much better alternative. It is blooming for the first time.

Variegated masterwort (Peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis') in a foundation bed

Peucedanum's bloom is like Queen Anne's Lace

Not just blooms, here is some of the striking foliage in my garden today:

From the top: threadleaf maple, sea holly, hostas, smokebush, brunnera, Japanese painted fern, and brunnera.

I knew this was a special day when I captured a picture of the pileated woodpecker. We hear him often, but he is too shy to hang around for a photograph. Today, he was so busy, he didn't spot me right away. He was really making the bark fly, wasn't he? -- you can see it falling.

I am joining with Carol at May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Thank you Carol for your wonderful meme. 

Happy Gardening my friends,

Pamela x

I enjoy my potting-shed library.

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