June Bloom Day

Island bed.

 

I'm quite a few days late with this post--my computer was in the shop being upgraded and on top of that I came down with a summer virus (another nasty Covid variant?) and was feeling very poorly. Now that I have my Photoshop back, I'll try to catch up with the flowers in my summer garden--most of these shots were taken last week before I got sick. "Bloom Day" is hosted by Carol Michel's blog, May Dreams Gardens, on the 15th of every month.

We've had an extraordinarily wet spring this year in my northwest corner of Virginia (zone 6b). May topped out at a record ten inches of rain, and this month so far I've recorded about 4.6 inches. Some of the storms have been spectacular, with high winds. After three years of drought conditions it's a welcome change. The deer continue to eat so many of my flowers, but there are still enough left to enjoy.

The long island bed next to the veggie pagoda has been filled to red-hot pokers in two colors, Yucca, Tansy and both blue and white lavender. The Sedum ground cover is full of tiny yellow flowers.The English thyme is lush with flowers, and makes a delicious seasoning for chicken and other dishes.

 

White lavender with red-hot pokers and tansy flowers.

English thyme in bloom.

 This year I finally have butterfly weed in both orange and yellow. That makes up for the deer eating all of my Asian lilies and so many of the Stella de Oro daylilies too. I used to have masses of these in a long row, but this year, only a few buds have been spared.

 

Butterfly weed in the Little Indians bed.

 

Regular and 'Hello Yellow' butterfly weed.

 

Lavender is blooming in several beds--'Hidcote', 'Grosso' and 'Munstead' varieties as well as the white. 

 

'Munstead' lavender.

'Hidcote' lavender.

Lavender 'Grosso' in the front.

 

There's a bit of Veronica 'Skywalker' and a pink variety in the front bed by the garage, but not a whole lot of bloom on them this year--I wonder if it's getting too shady there for them? Some of the Clary sage I seeded into this bed is blooming behind the bush roses. The original patch of Clary sage in Herb's bed is also blooming.

 

Veronica 'Skywalker'

Clary sage with Blue Fescue

Clary sage in Herb's bed with Prairie Blazing Star.

The pink Bee Balm under the cherry tree is blooming nicely, but the red 'Jacob Cline' in the back yard has been eaten back by the deer, so I don't know if I'll get much from it this year. The deer have also been attacking the Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) I grew from seed last year, so again, I may not get much bloom this year. I'd read that this plant wasn't particularly liked by them, but apparently they will eat it.

 

Pink Bee Balm (Monarda)

 

This summer the deer have even gone after my 'Incrediball' hydrangea--one they hadn't attacked before--so now I've put them behind a mesh barrier. They spared the Oak Leaf hydrangea for a while, but devoured the flowers right after I took this photo.

 

Oak Leaf Hydrangea with 'Incrediball' Hydrangea behind.

 

Oak Leaf Hydrangea

 

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

 The Tradescantia in this part of the garden also needs protection, or there'd soon be nothing left of it. I'm seriously considering fencing off the entire back yard, these deer are becoming such pests!

 

Tradescantia '

 

The Japanese maples in the east woodland garden are loving the rain, I've never seen them looking so good! The pagoda dogwood has shot up at least two feet, and the Carolina Silverbell behind it is growing well, though since the little bells were all burnt in the early April frost, there are no seedpods this year. 

 

East garden trees.

 

A new Cuphea called 'Torpedo' bought this year has a very unusual combination of colors. Unforutnately, the deer came by right after I took the photo and ate all the flowers--it's now on the porch regrowing, hopefully will have new flowers soon.

 

Cuphea 'Torpedo'

Cuphea 'Torpedo'

 

That's the highlights for June Bloom Day in my garden, thanks for visiting!

 

July 2024 Bloom Day

Hanging basket on porch.

  

It's hot and very dry here in my corner of Virginia--USDA Zone 6B--on this July Bloom Day. We haven't seen a drop of rain in going on three weeks, and June's rains weren't exactly plentiful. Despite my attempts to keep it watered, my garden is really suffering, and the local deer are more voracious than ever. So, this Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden, is going to be skimpier than usual.

 

Hanging baskets.

Fuchsia on porch.

 

Thanks to their daily watering in the scorching temperatures, the hanging baskets on the porch have about the most flowers: petunias, calibrachoas,blue and white  lobelias, coleus and a Fuchsia in one basket. There are a few flowers the deer have mostly left alone, so let's take a look.

Starting on the east side of the house, the hydrangeas 'Little Quick fire'  and 'Incrediball' have flowers that haven't been mauled--while another hydrangea, 'Endless Summer' next to Incrediball has been completely consumed.

 

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

 

My Vitex usually blooms profusely at this time of the year, but despite lots of watering, the shrub (now about 10' tall) isn't nearly as showy as in other years.

 

Vitex in bloom.

Coming around to the back yard the 'Blue Nile' Agapanthus I planted last year has produced a couple of stalks, and the red Salvia next to it is also flowering.

 

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile' with red Salvia.

The deer left me only a few blossoms of Liatris, and black-eyed Susans in my flower beds, probably because they couldn't reach them easily. The Chinese iris, formerly known as Blackberry lily or Belamcanda, don't appear very appetizing to them either.

 

Liatris 'Kobold'

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

Chinese iris (formerly called Belamcanda)

Towards the west side of the back yard, the bed with the Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline' are doing well, they seem to be fairly deer-proof. But my Coneflowers and Phlox have been decimated, very few flowers have survived. Just about every Daylily bud was eaten before it could open, among  dozens on plants: Stella de Oro, Purple de Oro, yellow and peach colored varieties, so sad!

 

Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline'

Back toward the front walk, the Agastache 'Firebird' is among the few plants that deer don't find appetizing--I must plant more Agastache in my garden, so I can have a few more summer blooms. Unfortunately, they prefer well-drained soil, which with all the clay here is just about impossible to provide, so they do better for me in pots. But the pots have to be watered on a daily basis.

 

Agastache 'Firebird' along the front walk.

Back deck potted plant  collection

 That's about it for bloom day in my garden, pray for rain in this area, plentiful rain! Then maybe I'll have more to show next month.

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!