June 2024 Bloom Day

Texas Yucca flowering spike (Hesperaloe parviflora)

 

  Today is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, but tomorrow, June the 16th, is the actual Bloomsday, celebrated in Ireland and many other places by lovers of James Joyce's novel "Ulysses." The events in this novel take place all on one day, June 16th, 1904, as narrated by its protagonist, Leopold Bloom. Upon the 50th anniversary of the publication of "Ulysses" a group of well-known authors decided to make a pilgrimage to all of the sites in Dublin mentioned in Joyce's book and re-enact its scenes, calling it "Bloom's Day". Since then, every year the celebration has become more elaborate--Dublin's 2024 Bloomsday is scheduled to last for an entire week!

  With that little bit of esoteric literary history out of the way, it's back to the garden for us today, thanks to Carol Michel's May Dreams garden blog. Disclosure: I'm scheduled to be at a family reunion this afternoon, thus some of my photos were taken a day or two before--close enough for rock n' roll.

 

Yuccas in bloom, with my new veggie garden enclosure in back.

Yucca flowers with Red-hot pokers beyond.

  We'll start with the Yuccas--this year my Texas Yucca (not actually a Yucca) put forth its first flowering spike, and I was thrilled! Then my 'Color Guard' Yucca, which is reverting to an ordinary leaf-color Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)  put forth two flowering spikes. I'd trimmed the side shoots which carry the flowers for the past two years, in an attempt to prevent their reversion, resulting in no flowers--but I'd rather have the flowers than the yellow-striped foliage, so last fall I left the side shoots alone.

  Yucca flowers are so lovely and they always bring to mind New Mexico: my first home in the U.S., and the site of my first artist residency. I painted my first Yucca flowers as a young teen for a school mural, and sold a watercolor of another Yucca in Santa Fe as artist in residence at the Mill Atelier. I may yet paint another this summer, if I have the time.

 

Clary sage flower buds with Centaurea 'Emperor William' in back.

 

  My Clary sage (Salvia sclarea), a biennial, bloomed last year, but there are more flowers this year--must be from some that re-seeded and overwintered--it's such a statuesque plant! 

  The Butterfly weed is in full bloom, and I finally have some 'Hello Yellow' blooms, though not many yet. The deer keep eating the yellow ones back though they don't touch the orange variety, go figure.

 

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Prairie sagebrush (Artemisia frigida) with Butterfly weed behind.

 

  The deer have eaten all of my Asian lilies, and most of my daylilies, despite my efforts to keep them sprayed with repellent. They left only a few for me to enjoy like this delicate peach colored daylily.

Peach dalylily.

  I'm hoping to save a few of my Cone flowers this summer, last year the deer ate every last one of them! The goldfinches were most upset, they love the seeds.

Cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea) and garden Phlox.

  The west back bed is not very colorful right now--it's all white flowers--but the Anise Hyssop here should start to bloom soon, along with a few blooms of the Monarda 'Jacob Kline.'

Virginia mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) and white Salvia

Red-hot pokers (Knifophia uvaria) and Catmint on west side of house

 

  The hydrangeas growing on the east side of the house are particularly susceptible to the depredations of the deer, so this year I've protected them with physical barriers. Its doesn't make for a very scenic garden look, but it's better than seeing the plants decimated.

 

Oak-leaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' and 'Incrediball' beyond.

 

  Many flowers of the 'New Dawn' climbing rose are still hanging on; it's the only rose that has bloomed for me this year. All the other roses have been eaten by deer or had the foliage stripped by the saw-fly larvae.

Climbing rose 'New Dawn'

  The lavender is in full bloom in various parts of the garden, and the bees love it! I think my Buttonbush is going to flower this year finally--that is, if the deer don't eat the buds.

 

Lavender 'Hidcote' and Buttonbush 'Sugar Shack'

Lavender 'Munstead' and pink Monarda in front garden.

Lavender and pink Monarda in front yard.

   The front walk is now lined with my potted plants--the tropicals winter inside the house, and others I grow as annuals. The sedums growing beside the walk are all blooming.

Potted plants along the front walk.

  

  My porch baskets are starting to fill out a bit. I hope to have more success with these side-planters than in past years. Its seems that every year, at least a few side plants dry out and fail, and the baskets end up looking beat-up and skimpy. I'd like to see good coverage of the coconut fiber liners and fullness.

 

Hanging baskets on porch.

 

   Meanwhile, a few goodies in my indoor garden, in the orchid department. The beautiful white Phalaenopsis is blooming again, and a miniature Phal too. Another orchid in the master bath is also blooming.

White Phalaenopsis with miniature Phalaenopsis in bloom.

Mystery orchid in master bath.

       My next posting will be about my artistic pursuits and exciting events related to art. For today, Happy June Bloom Day to all!

June's Bounty of Flowers

 

Yucca 'Color Guard' in flower.

After several years of not flowering, this spring my "Color Guard' Yucca finally put out two flowering spikes. My plant seemed to be reverting to the original blue-green foliage of the ordinary Yucca filamentosa, so I cut back those shoots for several years, but of course since it's the new side shoots that produce the blossoms, I pruned away any chance of flowers.

 Last fall I decided I'd rather have the flowers than the pretty foliage, and let the side shoots grow out. Is it just my impression that these flowers droop a bit more than those of the ordinary Yucca filamentosa?

 

Yucca with red-hot pokers and lavender.

This part of the long island bed is very colorful at the moment. with red-hot pokers and a pink, or is it white lavender? I've forgotten. I have another red-hot poker variety with all-orange flowers on the west side of the house, but I think this one is prettier.

 

Red-hot pokers (Knifophia uvaria)

Red-hot pokers on the west side of the house.

The butterfly weed is is full bloom at the moment--the 'Hello Yellow' variety is finally offering some blooms but doesn't seem to be as floriferous as the ordinary wild species. The deer keep eating the  yellow flowers back, so perhaps it's not the plant's fault. Why one color would be preferred to the other in taste is a mystery to me.

Herb's bed with lavender and butterfly weed beyond.

Herb's bed with lavender, grasses and Hesperaloe flowers at rear.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Butterfly weed and lavender in Little Indians bed.

The deer ate most of my Asian lilies despite my efforts to keep them sprayed with repellent, but I did manage to save these few to enjoy briefly. The beasts came by and ate them last night; glad I took the photos just before.

 

Pink and orange Asian lilies.

Asian lilies

 

My hydrangea 'Incrediball' is lovely right now, but I don't know if my other two hydrangeas (H. arborecens and H. paniculata) will bloom this year--I don't see any buds thus far. The oak-leaf hydrangea is making progress, let's hope the deer don't eat it back this year. The Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) also gets eaten back, but not as badly.

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

Oak-leaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' and Spiderwort

Peeking through 'Incrediball' to the back yard.

Lavender in the front garden

 

With so many photos of flowers today, I wonder what, if anything new, I'll have to show for June's Bloom Day on the 15th?

Garden Bloggers Bloomday June 2023

Great Spangled Fritillary on orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).

The 15th of the month is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog.

The severe drought continues here in my corner of northwestern Virginia (Zone 6B)--we've had only a half inch of rain since the beginning of the month, on top of the driest April and May since I've lived here. I don't know if the drought is contributing to it, but we also seem to be having the worst tick season yet--I've been bitten twice in as many months while working in the confines of my garden! That last one was a lone star tick, a recent introduction brought by deer.

Speaking of which, the local deer have been incredibly voracious: I've hardly seen a flower from any of my daylilies. The buds get eaten before they have a chance to open! They've decimated my Coneflowers and phlox too. But there are still a few blooms from plants that don't appeal as much to these beasts. The orange butterfly weed is out in force, though even the 'Hello Yellow' variety got munched back.

The chiggers, that scourge of the rural south, are also out in force and viscious--I have to douse myself in insect repellent just to go out into my garden, and even then it's likely I'll get at least a few bites!

 

Asian lilies and red-hot pokers.

Red and orange Asian lilies.

 

The Asian lilies bloomed, but this year, their glory was brief. These photos were taken four days ago, this morning the flowers were all gone, devoured by the deer. That's so unusual--I was under the impression that Asian lilies were toxic to most animals, including deer, and these flowers had never been touched before. What could be going on? Have deer suddenly developed an immunity to the toxins, or have they become suicidal?

The Red-hot pokers are still holding on, only a few spikes have been chewed off. The Diervilla 'Kodiak Black' is blooming. So are the foxglove pentstemons and blue Centaurea in the Herb bed.

 

Diervilla 'Kodiak Black'

Centaurea 'Emperor William'

Foxglove penstemon.

 

'Incrediball' and my new Oak leaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' are blooming, and it looks as if 'Little Quick Fire' will bloom later on, but I doubt that my other two hydrangeas will present much bloom this year--the old wood died back to the ground during our dry spring.

 

Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' and 'Incrediball' in background.

Oakleaf hydrangea and tradescantia.

My front yard offers welcome shade at this time of the year, and a variety of blooms: Gaillardia "Arizona Sun', a pink bee balm in the shade, and two varieties of lavender. The daffodil foliage is dying back, but the annuals that were intended to hide the dying foliage are being munched by the deer!

 

My front yard on June Bloom Day--Gaillardias in front.

Pink Monardas under the cherry tree.

Lavender under yellow magnolia tree.

Lavender and yarrow by the driveway.

The bed by the front driveway sports an 'Admiration' barberry with lavender (Lavandula 'Grosso') and red yarrow.

 

Clary sage in bud.

Although not in bloom yet, the buds of the clary sage (Salvia sclarea) I grew from seed last year are developing. This is a biennial native to the Mediterranean region which I've never grown before--I can't wait to see what the flowers will look like! The leaves are somewhat fuzzy and tough, the plant is usually cultivated for its medicinal oils.

 

Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles'

This New Jersey tea plant 'Gloire de Versailles' is a hybrid between a native eastern variety and a California one. Supposed to be deer-resistant, I've had to put a tomato cage around mine to keep if from being devoured by deer, like many other plants in my garden--it's finally making some progress.

More red-hot pokers (Kniphofia) on the west side.

Hanging basket with Calibrachoas on the back deck.

I have a number of hanging baskets with plants on the porch and the back deck, but these haven't grown enough to make much of a show, except for these Calibrachoas. As the summer progresses, I hope they'll make a better showing.

Painting the Lotus at Mattawoman Creek

Wild Lotus, watercolor, 10" x 5", $100.

After lunch at Mattawoman Creek park, Linda and I put the kayak in the water, loaded our gear and started paddling upstream. In this tidal area the waters are so calm it was difficult to detect much of a current but according to a fisherman we passed, the tide was going out . We paddled lazily past marshy banks of pickerelweed and spatterdock with some grassy plants that might be wild rice. We went round a bend and behold--here were expanses of the creamy yellow blossoms of the native American lotus at the height of their glory!

We continued upstream to a tiny island where Linda had gone swimming other times, but the water weeds were so thick near the shore it wasn't very appealing, so we gave up on swimming and explored on foot instead. We found several spikes of bright red cardinal flowers, pink butterfly weed and hog-peanut vines in flower. A bald eagle soared overhead, its white head majestic in the sunlight. A couple of fishing boats trolled past. With the sun at a lower angle now, it was just the right time to paddle back to paint the lotus.

We pulled into the lotus stand and parked the kayak near one blossom starting to open among several emerging leaves, their curious folds forming half moons sticking out of the water. I looked behind me and was amused to see Linda floating her small watercolor set on top of a lotus leaf (I'm used to holding mine in my left hand like a palette because it has a thumb-hole). I snapped a shot with her camera.

A splash behind us proved to be an osprey diving for fish. The osprey missed its prey and circled around for several passes but eventually gave up and flew away. We finished our sketches around six and paddled back in the evening light at the end of a marvelous day. I felt exhausted but my spirit overflowed with joy at the sight of so many lovely lotus flowers. It had been a perfect lotus day!