June Update - Part 2

This is the Part two of my June update....here is part one. This is kind of like one of those vacation slide shows... Well if you are here, maybe there is something interesting you will find in our June garden.

I love these flowers (above and below). The barrel on the right has what I have thought are "purple tansy"...they look nice as seedlings, in bud, and purple blooms later.


We started a rain barrel in the ferns by the garage. I wonder if they will fill in and hide the whole garbage can. At least it has been full so I know it won't tip over with the weight of water.


This year we are growing parsnips...the ones in the back are a couple weeks ahead of those in the front. This brick really has no purpose.


I never knew parsnips look like cilantro...I will have to check the spacing and maybe thin these.


It is a time of alliums here...chives are blooming. Given a warm, sunny morning I should find some bees in them.


Another allium, love the tall blooms of these.


We are starting some ever-bearing strawberries to supplement our June-bearing harvest. There are also some pole beans and cucumbers in this barrel...we will see if they grow over the fence.


Jerusalem artichokes / sunchokes are another new plant this year....here I have some in a container...


We also have a bed of sunchokes started. It will be fun to see how they look in the fall.


These are some very nice hostas we inherited with the house. I really like how large these get -- they fill in most of this North side of the house.


A volunteer viola -- I hope to get more growing. These are another of those edible flowers.


Parsley from last year is starting to build a seed stalk. It will be the first time I see parsley flowers.


June raspberries are almost here...


Finally, I was impressed to see an herb return from last year. This lemon balm returned where parsley failed to survive the winter. This made a great addition to my wood sorrel cold tea.


Thanks for visiting our garden!

Bloom Day July 2008

It's already been a month since the last Garden Blogger's Bloom Day?? This event takes place thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens. (Go there to visit many other gardens in bloom this month.) I have to say that since June it seems that a lot has happened on the bloom front.

The wild flowers are blooming and setting different stages every day. Our "tiger" lilies and other lilies are also blooming. Let's take a stroll to see some highlights...

Morning glories...I like those heart-shaped leaves and the tightly closed blooms during the day.


Dill...such a nice scent and attractive to many insects. This year we have some fern-leafed variety, but I might try to go back to a traditional or giant type.


Purple...bloom


Allium...a common onion.


Seed sown marigolds are blooming.


Blue forget-me-nots...a great color, but have to be careful of the dried seeds.


I was surprised that these flowers returned from what I though were annuals last year.


Geranium


We planted these nasturtium throughout the yard and they look great.


Rudbeckia are now blooming...a couple different varieties.


Some other purple blooms...tansy and alyssium.


I'm not sure there is much to add to these. I've seen many daylilies blooming, but the one's in our yard are not yet. Check back as the blooms should change a lot over the next month as well.

Funny Flower

I said funny flower, but maybe it's funny flowers -- these baby's breath got tangled under the nasturtium flower.... Things have been pretty busy lately at least as far as work and other things go. Today is a nice Saturday...a little cooler than it has been. If the wind ever dies down down it will be perfect.

I can't summarize all the things going on in the garden since last time, so I will just do a walk through of what the highlights are now...

These rose-mallow flowers have started to bloom. They are so pretty and have an interesting star in the spaces at the base of the petals.


Not quite so showy, the potatoes have flowers...I suppose that must be a good thing.


I just love this clump of asiatic lilies...it is so tall, I almost think I should move it further back in the bed when fall comes (to allow some shorter plants a better display). However, it is doing so well I hesitate to change the conditions.


Here's a close-up of one of the blooms.


A shot of the purple-blue flowers in a barrel...I have procrastinated looking them up in a book still. (Update: Okay I think it's a purple tansy.)


Other developments...the Black-eyed Susans have started to flower.