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.

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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.

May Garden - 1st Half - 2021 - A Riot of Color

 The colors of May are in your face.  The daffodils and tulips compete for your attention.

By May, the interesting daffodils have begun blooming - the multiples, the scented ones, the doubles.  They make for some delightful bouquets.

It is so nice to bring the sunshine into the house after a gloomy winter.

At the beginning of May, it is mostly daffodils.

Then the tulips begin and the forsythia blooms in the background.

The spiky dark thing in the middle of the ground is a peony.

In May the tulips provide a riot of color and the forsythia begins to fade.

Last year this frame was designed to provide support for the dahlias.

Tibetan prayer flags add whimsy.

Turns out, dahlias did not need support, so this year the frame will support sweet peas.

This is a new little square garden for strawberries and garlic.  Rabbits were eating the strawberry leaves, even with the garlic right there!!!  The dastards.  D has added fencing to discourage them.

Tomatoes will go in the rectangular garden near the hedge.

These forget-me-nots just appeared.  They are tiny.

The view from the bench in the side yard.

The foreground of the next picture shows the new "Cutting Garden".  At this point, there are dahlias planted that D grew from seed.

It will have all kinds of flowers to be brought into the house.

Plans now are for glads, lisianthus, snapdragons, zinnias, marigolds, statice.

Beside the driveway is a bed of strawberries.  This was the original bed.  

There are now three more - one with the garlic, one against the south side of the house, and a few plants at the northeast corner of the house.

We have high hopes!  Last year the first strawberry was June 8.

Pulmonaria (Lungwort) has pink and blue flowers at the same time.

Horseradish is thriving.

At the end of April, the white rhododendron began to bloom.  I think it had only a couple of flowers last year, so we are delighted.

The white bleeding heart is taking off!  Check back next post to see it really thriving.

Gonna miss those daffodils.

Garden in the First Half of June

At the end of May the tomatoes were planted in the front yard, since that area gets the most sun on our little property.  They will be supported by fencing as they grow.  In the immediate foreground, with a stake, is a brugmansia, which is this year's learning project.

 The beginning of June is dominated by iris.  We were surprised at the number of blooms on the yellow siberian iris.  These plants were transplanted from the farm last year.  There they rarely bloomed, and never in profusion.   The purple siberian iris are also doing well this year.  The little iris are new plantings.

 We are delighted at the number and variety of birds enjoying the birdbath.  Some just perch on the edge to get a drink.  Others flutter and bathe.  Fun to watch.

This is a powerful purple.  Especially lovely at dusk.

A year or two ago a friend gave me a large clump of chives.

We divided them to spread around the garden.  

They have been wonderful!

 We have made chive blossom butter and chive vinegar with the bounty.
Check that out in the blog post on experiments with extracts.

Pansies are such a happy flower.  D grew them from seed, and there are 4 different ones.

 We have tried a variety of alliums this year.  This one is Allium Bulgarica.  It's a kind of rangy plant.  Current thinking is that they need to be massed alone.

The white bleeding heart has very few blooms this year.

Years ago we discovered Mara des Bois strawberries.  They taste like real strawberries.  They are everbearing, which means that after a bounty in early June, we may get a few berries all summer.

Looks like we picked 180 berries.  About 12 cups of sliced strawberries.

By mid month the peonies were blooming.

We put in five plants.  Three bloomed this year.

This white one was the first to flower.  

It will be followed by two light pink ones.

This is the first brugmansia to bloom.

Actually, we were not expecting any blooms this year.

To get an idea of scale, that is not a flower pot - it is a waste basket half buried in the soil.

They must be watered at least once a day, and sometimes two or three times.

At least they droop and tell you it's time for more water!

They will be brought in for the winter and taken back out next year.

Does he look scared?  That is a huge bee in the rhododendron by his ear.