June 2026 Bloom Day

Gaillardia 'Arizona Sunset'

It's the 15th of June 2026, Bloom Day for garden bloggers hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams blog. Not to be confused with the literary Bloomsday celebration in Ireland, commemorating James Joyce's novel Ulysses, which takes place on a June 16th of the early 1900's, whose protagonist is Leopold Bloom. The Bloomsday literary festival in Dublin now extends over the entire week.

This post is being written a few days earlier, since today I have to help hang our Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region's (BASNCR) Botanica 2026 exhibition at Brookside Gardens in Maryland. Our theme is a celebration of this year's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, titled "Enduring Plants from Colonial Times" and I'm proud to say one of my paintings was chosen for the exhibition poster.

 

"Red White and Blue Lobelias" watercolor, 

 

The models for my painting were plants from my garden, Cardinal Flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) for the red, and Blue Lobelias (Lobelia syphilitica) for the blue and white. Thomas Jefferson grew the Cardinal Flower in his gardens at Monticello, and George Washington grew the Blue Lobelias in Mount Vernon's gardens. Of course, these are not blooming right now, but they'll put on a show later in summer.

Here's what is blooming right now in my garden--butterfly weed bushes, and the Fritillary butterflies love them! There were several flirting about when I took this shot, but only one posed.

 

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) with Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly

 

The Little Indians bed in the east

The red-hot pokers are also putting on a show--two colors in the long island bed by the veggie pagoda, and orange ones on the west side of the house. This spring my 'Color Guard' Yucca regenerated some bi-color growth, so I cut back the ordinary green ones that were overtaking the plant, hoping the golden foliage will predominate once again. But, no flowers are likely this year. 

 

Red-hot pokers (Knifophia uvaria) with Yucca "Color Guard'

 

Red-hot Pokers with creeping and English thyme.

Salvia 'Pink Nebula' with rosemary and English thyme

Red-hot pokers and red yarrow on west side of the house.

The Texas Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) in the Herb bed is sporting a flower spike this year, though not yet open. The Clary sage, which usually is ready to bloom about now, doesn't look like it will have much in the way of flowers this year--it's a biennial, after all. The poppy mallow planted two years ago is making a nice display next to some lavender.

 

Sedum in flower with Texas Yucca spike.

Poppy mallow and lavender 'Hidcote'

The coneflowers in the back bed are starting to open--we'll see how many the deer leave for me to enjoy this year. The new deer repellents seem to be dissuading them somewhat, but some plants are still way too appetizing for them to pass up.

 

Coneflowers in the back bed.

 

A little Cranesbill geranium in the back bed survives only because of a protective wire cloche--it was decimated a few years ago, and is only now recovering enough to flower. It's a constant struggle!

 

Geranium 'Biokovo'

 My shrub roses have escaped the munching thus far, but the 'Simplicity' rose behind them had all its buds eaten, despite the repellent placed right next to it. Ditto for my red 'Double Knockout' rose right along the front walk. 

 

'Petal Pushers' roses along the west front yard.

 

The deer even munched on the leaves of a Rhododendron in the blue pot that I'd been nursing, and my flame azalea (this shot was taken before they ate them back). But they didn't touch the exotic Florida Coonties (Zamia integrifolia) that I grew from seed collected during a trip a few years ago. Those are growing well, but need to come indoors every winter, as they're not hardy.

 

Potted plants in the front yard, Florida Coonties on the right

My  porch baskets are themed red white a blue this year, with 'Pretty Grand mix' petunias, which I love--the blue ones have a wonderful scent! That's it for June, thanks for visiting!

 

Porch baskets

 

July Bloom Day

 

My back yard in July.

It's July Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog on the 15th of every month. Welcome to my Zone 6B Virginia garden! It's amazing to contemplate nature's bounty when I look out from my deck on this lovely summer morning at 6:00 AM, and think back to some thirteen years ago when my husband and I bought the property... this was all just an empty expanse of weedy grass. 

 

Looking west from the deck.

Looking east, the vegetable pagoda and Herb's bed.

 

The grass is still weedy, but as for the rest, what a change! It's taken a lot of hard work, heartbreaking trial and error to bring what you see here into being. And yet, my garden is young by garden standards--my trees are still small. I've done it mostly by myself, with a bit of help from Herb. It's finally starting to look like the garden I had envisioned, despite the deer's voracity, three years of drought, and seventeen-year locusts. This year's plenteous rains have done wonders for it. Let's get down and take a closer look at what's blooming.

 

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile'

 

Agastache 'Blue Boa, 'Apache Sunset' and 'Pink Pearl' with 'Karl Foerster' feather reed grass.

The Agapanthus 'Blue Nile' in Herb's bed is blooming, along with Clary sage and 'Texas Red' sage. Farther back in the same bed, my three Agastaches are also starting to bloom--'Blue Boa', 'Apache Sunset' and a pink one I think is 'Pink Pearl'. For some reason, despite growing for several years and re-seeding, 'Blue Boa' doesn't seem to want to spread much--it should be much larger by now!

 

Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus) shrub in east garden.

Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

 

Bottlebrush Buckeye flowers close up.

My Vitex shrub, AKA the Chaste tree or summer lilac, is in full bloom--I love the cooling effect of the color.

The native Bottlebrush Buckeye comes into its own at this time too. The airy delicate spikes are loved by butterflies and hummingbirds. Speaking of which, we saw a hummer buzzing the Clary sage--had no idea they'd go for this sage which has such a medicinal aroma. 

 

Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) and Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

 

The Butterfly bush is growing back well despite a huge set-back this spring from an April frost right after a hard pruning.

Coneflowers in the back bed.

 

Hybrid daylily.

The deer left me a few coneflowers in the back bed (orange Sombrero I think) and one lone daylily flower--I spray them with deer repellent regularly, but they eat the buds anyway. They've also eaten every bud of the wild Bergamot I planted from seed last year. I thought that Monardas wouldn't be particularly palatable to deer, being in the mint family, but they eat the red 'Jacob Cline', while the Anise hyssop and narrow-leaved mountain mint are not to their liking. I'm gradually becoming an expert on deer-impervious plants.

 

Mountain mint, Anise hyssop, Monarda 'Jacob Cline' and oat grass.

This year I grew some Cleomes from seed, but only three plants survived--very pretty annuals,though, I'd like to try them again next year--perhaps they'll oblige and re-seed themselves?

 

Spider plant (Cleome)

West foundation plantings: Salvia yangii (formerly Russian sage), Catmint and one Cleome.

The Chinese iris in the long island bed in back is not palatable to deer, neither are the pink Dianthus or the minty green plants (some sort of wild Calamint?), but they go for the blue flowers of the bush Clematis behind. They've about extirpated my Asian lilies and finished off most of the black-eyed Susans in this bed.

My heather grows under a wire cloche, which distorts its growth, but I'd have no plant at all without it--I should prune it this fall to see if I can get rid of the leggy branches and re-shape it. But perhaps early spring is a better time to prune heather--any advice?

 

Chinese iris and pink Dianthus.

Heather in bloom.

 

Further down this bed a lone spike of orange Gladiolus survives under the Weeping Butterfly bush (Budlleja lindleyana). The broken upside-down flower pot is a toad-house.

 

Orange Gladiolus with Buddleja Lindleyana

My potted plants on the porch are those most susceptible to deer: an avocado tree grown from seed, a bi-color leaf Sunpatiens my sister gave me, a Platycodon waiting to be planted when the weather cools, a yellow Hibiscus, purple basil, Begonias, Caladiums, succulents and other house plants that live outside during the summer. I even brought my Cattleya orchids outside in hopes of some budding.

 

Potted plants on the front porch.

Plants on the porch.

This year the hanging baskets on the porch have mostly Petunias, with red Pelargoniums and sweet potato vines. One variety of Petunia, the 'Pretty Grand mix' emits wonderful perfume at night--the dark purple ones in particular. I've never come across scented Petunias before--though some varieties I've grown before were advertised as scented, none had proved to be so until now.

 

Petunias 'Pretty Grand Mix'

Porch baskets

Other plants bloom along the front walk: a miniature yellow Dahlia, and white Heliotrope. The Australian red finger lime is setting more fruit. The tropical salvias ' Black and Blue, 'Amistad,' and 'Faye Chapel' haven't put up much of a show yet--the deer ate all the buds of 'Faye Chapel' before they had a chance to develop!

 

Plants along front walk: Puya alpestris on the right.

Miniature yellow Dahlia.

White Heliotrope.

Australian red finger lime

Irish moss (Sagina subulata) by the front walk.

 

Returning to where we started on the rear deck, the two Cupheas are putting on a show: 'Torpedo' and 'Honeybells.' Next week my contractor starts on the deck repairs and refinishing, so I'm trying to keep the back deck clear of plants. Ordinarily, my deck would be filled with potted plants.

 

Cuphea 'Torpedo'

Cuphea 'Honeybells'

 

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you next month!

Debby's Gift

 

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) in miy front yard.

Tropical storm Debby arrived in our area last Wednesday evening and stayed through Friday. During that time Debby brought us a generous 6.75 inches of rain--a real gift! After such a severe drought during June and July, my garden is now reviving after these rains. Unfortunately, the deer have eaten so much, there aren't a lot of flowers left, but here are some of what is left for August's Bloom Day.

The cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) under the cherry tree in front has come back--the one I'd planted in a back bed last year died in July--too dry a site for it, I expect. The location of this other seems to suit it, I hope I can get more plants to grow here.

 

Wild Ageratum on the east bed.

The wild Ageratum (Conoclinium coelestinum) which continues to reseed itself in the east bed and Herb's bed was looking very droopy, but it perked up a lot with the rains. Unfortunately the deer have eaten all of my Blue Lobelias (Lobelia siphyllitica) in the same bed, and their usual masses of flowers are gone.

 

Red Salvia

The red Salvia in Herb's bed is offering its blooms for the hummingbirds--we finally spotted a few recently, after seeing none in June and July. The deer ate the blue Agapanthus earlier, but another flowering spike has appeared; they didn't get this one after I sprayed it with repellent!

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile'

 

Deer generally avoid Agastaches, so my 'Blue Boa' were not touched, but the drought set it back somewhat. I need a few more plants to make this patch show up--another project for the fall or next spring!

Agastache 'Blue Boa'

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

A few black-eyed Susans bloomed after the rains despite the deer eating back most of the buds, ditto for the Coneflowers in the back bed. The Seven Son Flower tree is starting to bloom too.

Purple Coneflowers reblooming.

Seven Son Flower tree (Heptacodium miconoides)

A few other blooms typical for this time of the year: white 'Natchez' crapemyrtle, and Russian sage (Perovskia).

Crape myrtle 'Natchez' with Abelia 'Panoramic' and Japanese maple.

Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

 

Most of my potted plants had to be moved to the porch or the back deck to be safe from the deer--they were bold enough to nibble the black cotton plants I had in pots on the front steps of the house! They ate back the 'Black and Blue' Brazilian Salvia too, which is only now starting to put out a few budding spikes.

 

Irish moss (Sagina subulata)

 

This Irish moss plant has survived for several years in a pot that used to hold a blueberry plant, 'Top Hat'. The blueberry died out this summer, but the Irish moss has persisted. My hanging baskets on the porch haven't filled out as I hoped, but they are colorful. The problem with these Pamela Crawford side planters is they use up so much water! They dry out quickly too, and a few plants never make it, leaving large areas of the coir baskets exposed--not very attractive.

 

Porch baskets.

Front porch basket

Potted plants on the deck.

Tuberous begonia on deck.

 

 

We'll finish up with my two recent watercolors: Ice Mountain Suite #1 has been accepted into Art at the Mill's fall 2024 show. I'm working on completing Ice Mountain suite #2

Ice Mountain Suite #1, watercolor.

 

Ice Mountain Suite #2.

 

Bloom Day on the 15 on every month is brought to you by to Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog, Happy August Bloom Day!