Garden in the First Half of July 2021

In the first half of July, the garden is lush, dominated by lilies, day lilies, drumstick allium, delphinium. 

At the bottom of the picture (above) and a yellow marigold, yellow dahlia, and on the right, leaning over the grass is a drumstick allium

The picture (above) has purple delphinium, lavender delphinium, orange calendula, lilies, yellow marigolds, a red daylily and an orange daylily.

The dahlias and marigolds are beginning.  The zinnias have not done much yet.  Below is a red daylily with a white delphinium,

:~:

 I thought these bugs were the cutest little things.  They look like fairies!

Then D said they are "Woolly Aphids" whose favorite job is destroying apple trees.

:~:

We have had a lot of rain this year.  I wonder if that's why the lilies are so magnificent.

Years ago, we bought an investment house that we called "The Flower House."

The house had been lived in by an old woman who loved to garden, but the gardens had been neglected for a couple of years and were becoming quite overgrown.  While we were clearing the woods, we were amazed when we saw this:

We had never seen it before.  It is monarda didyma, also called bee balm.

This magenta one is quite special!

The lavender version is called Oswego Tea.

It is in the mint family, and the leaves are fragrant when touched.

Hummingbirds love it, and so do hummingbird moths.

We have two shrubs that we knew are hydrangea, but they never bloomed.

What a shock - one bloomed this year with four flowers.

I never heard of blue and pink on the same plant, but we're loving it!

Alas, we do not know what coaxed them into bloom.

Apple tree, lilies, and bench.

Between the apple tree and the bench is the strawberry and garlic garden.  You can see the garlic scapes bending over.

The first snapdragon was July 13.

The drumstick allium has lasted the entire month of July.

  

It is constantly covered with bees and wasps and other little pollinators.

The first lupin we have grown!

To its left is the seed head of a giant allium.

The big leaves are hollyhocks that will bloom later in the month.

The blue-green leaf is cerinthe.  It will bloom later in the month, too.

The strappy leaves that look like grass are daylily leaves.

The first sweet pea bouquet was July 2.

The leaves are hosta and spotted leaves are pulmonaria.

The sweet peas are still blooming in August!

The second half of the month brings spectacular dahlias and snapdragons.

Check back. . . 

2021 Garden Pics

March

April

May Part 2 and Part One

Part one of June

Flowers of June

Part two of June

To see 2020 garden pics:

Second half of September

September 1st half.

Second half of August

First half of August.

2nd half of July.

First half of July garden.

Garden at the End of June

And the first half of June is here.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

Here is the first week of May

Daffodils 2020

The middle of April is here.

First week of April.

Garden in the First Half of June - 2021

Winters in upstate NY are long, cold, and snowy.  We look forward to plants and flowers and sitting out in the yard enjoying them and listening to the birds.  It's the joy of June.  There are few biting bugs.  The temperatures are mild but not too hot.

The daffodils are finished and so are the tulips.  It's the season of the iris and the peonies.

. . 

Along the base of the hedge in the background (above) is a border of hosta.  Between the hosta are pulmonaria, but they are finished blooming.  There are also begonias.

 . . . . 

We have white bleeding heart.  

But the greatest joy of June is the strawberries.  Years ago, we discovered Mara des Bois berries from France.  Although they have spectacular flavor and are lovely, often completely red inside, they are not grown commercially.  We learned why!  Within a day or two of picking, they are spoiled, mushy, moldy.  So - you have to eat them!  And they are wonderful.

In the first half of June, after cleaning, we ate or froze 28 cups (That's 7 quarts!).

If you are wondering how much property we have, the lot is 99'x90', with a house, garage, sidewalks.

D has become an expert at space utilization!

Along the front walk are iris on the right and daylilies on the left.  

Near the steps are chives (Thanks, Karen).

In the foreground above are three different types of allium.

The tomato plants are blossoming, and there are a couple of tomatoes.

We are growing Cherokee Purple (a reddish/black), Azoychka (a blush yellow), and one new to us - Berkeley Tie Dye (a pink).

I have saved a lot of pictures for another time, including alliums, peonies, astrantia, Itoh peony.  There were 13 that I selected but did not use here. . . Not counting the hundreds. . . 

And to whet your appetite for the next post, here's our first dahlia.

2021 Garden Pics

March

April

May Part 2 and Part One

To see 2020 garden pics:

Second half of September

September 1st half.

Second half of August

First half of August.

2nd half of July.

First half of July garden.

Garden at the End of June

And the first half of June is here.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

Here is the first week of May

Daffodils 2020

The middle of April is here.

First week of April.

March Flowers 2021

2021

March Flowers - finally - we were getting desperate!

This has been a long winter - with Covid 19 limiting our social access, 

and with the weather limiting our outdoor experiences, it has been a long winter. . . 

The first flowers to appear are the snowdrops.

Snowdrops are followed by crocus.

The rabbits have clearly been enjoying these.  They ate the tops of the leaves that emerge before the buds.

Speaking of rabbits, they enjoyed their own personal tulip salad bar.  They ate the growing tops of almost every tulip in the garden.

We are pretty sure it's rabbits - they left some poop when they ate the crocus tops.   Deer like tulips, too, but they usually eat one here and there.  This garden had been almost all eaten.

D immediately went to buy fencing to enclose the gardens that had edibles.

One garden fenced and time for a well deserved break!

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Gwendolyn sent a lovely picture of her white and lavender violets, so I had to wander out to see if we had any.  It is early for us, but I was delighted to find:

These lavender and white crocus were planted by previous owners.  

"Some flies are bee mimics. They can be distinguished from bees by their single pair of wings, and their notably bulging eyes and short antennae. Flies do not actively collect pollen, and lack pollen collecting hairs. They will visit flowers to drink nectar, though, and may thus act as pollinators. While some plant species have evolved to rely on flies for pollination, most plants are better pollinated by bees." https://energy.wisc.edu/bee-guide/WI-Spring-Bee-Guide.pdf

We think this is not a bee.

We keep hoping for early daffodils, but this is all we have on March 21.

Some of the daffodil heads are up.  The brownish plant on the bottom right (around 4 o'clock) is fritillaria, crown imperial.  

March sky is always interesting.

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And the last bit of good news for March, 2021, is we have a daffodil blooming!

YAY!!!!

And for April Fools Day, tomorrow,

we are expecting 4-6 inches of snow!

To see 2020 garden pics:

Second half of September

September 1st half.

Second half of August

First half of August.

2nd half of July.

First half of July garden.

Garden at the End of June

And the first half of June is here.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

Here is the first week of May

Daffodils 2020

The middle of April is here.

First week of April.