Tag Archives: early summer garden

Kissed By The Rain

Friday and Saturday the garden gratefully welcomed more rainfall. By mid-morning Saturday the showers had stopped and I hurried out to see the first daylily blooms of the summer.

Hemerocallis (Daylily) (red in southern border from Mercers’ may be ‘Michael Arnholt’

The garden is taking on a summer look.

Lathyrus latifolius (Everlasting sweet pea)

Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’

Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena) and Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ (Wormwood)

Only a few Shasta daisies have opened. There are many tight buds.

Leucanthemum x superbum (Shasta Daisy) just starting to open

Monarda and cleome have been blooming about a week.

Monarda didyma (Scarlet Beebalm)

Cleome hassleriana (Spider Flower)

Though not very tall, much of this pink yarrow was flattened by the rain.

Achillea filipendulina (Fern-leaf Yarrow)

Scattered throughout the borders, Purple coneflower is having a good year. Last year it scarcely made an impact at all.

Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) backed by Canna

The color and form varies widely.

Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)

I especially like the white echinacea, but it does not spread like its pink relatives.

Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’ (Coneflower)

Lunchtime In The Garden

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A couple of weeks ago the weather was unseasonably hot and dry. These are photos from May 27, 2019. Lots of butterflies were visiting the garden then, flitting from one flower to the next (especially popular was Verbena bonariensis—must be quite tasty.) This is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Females are dimorphic and can be yellow or nearly black. Blue spots along the hindwing indicate this yellow form is female.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

At some point this swallowtail apparently escaped a bad encounter, but managed to get back to lunch.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

At first I thought this next one was a female dark morph of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail—I noticed it nectaring on Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue.’ The coloring didn’t quite seem right though and I finally decided it is a Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus). The spicebush has blue markings, one of which is missing its orange spot.

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

I followed the same butterfly around the garden. It stopped to enjoy the Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’ before moving on to the verbena.

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

Verbena and penstemon are also popular with bees. Shown here is an Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) sampling the buffet.

Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica)

Savorings From The June Garden

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My husband and I began a six-week mindfulness meditation class yesterday. Among the exercises for the first week is one to choose an activity that you often do in automatic pilot and pay special attention to the activity, to what is happening right now.

My mind jumped immediately to the garden, thinking a stroll around the garden would be a great activity for noticing what is happening in this moment, becoming aware of sights, sounds, textures, colors. But this is expressly one activity that I never do in autopilot. Being in the garden naturally leads to curiosity, exploring, slowing down and savoring each moment.

Here is a sampling of the garden in early June, a few things that help me pause and just notice.