The June Garden

 

June has been rather strange this year. We had a lot of June gloom and sometimes the sun wouldn't make an appearance before the late afternoon. Temperatures were lower than normal and when I compare the state of the garden to photos that I took around the same time last year, I can see that everything is about two weeks behind.

Nevertheless, it was a great month in the garden.

The poppies were still going strong as well as the yarrow "Moonshine" (Achillea). The terracotta yarrow had started to bloom toward the end of the month.

The pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana) was blooming in abundance and there was the steady quite loud humming of bumblebees in the air. They sure had a blast! The flowers are loved by some birds as well, especially Northern Mockingbird and California scrub jay, and the squirrels won't avoid them either.

The hollyhocks (Alcea) are my guilty pleasure. They don't really belong into a California garden, but they remind me of England and therefore I have a few. Since we had so much rain in the winter, they are doing particularly well this year. They don't get a lot of additional water from me.

This lavatera was a surprise for me. A few years ago I had a big pink flowering lavatera that eventually was not doing well and I had to remove it. I thought I had removed all of it, but obviously this one got away and started blooming this year right next to the desert globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua). The desert globe mallow has spread quite a bit. I first saw this flower in Arizona where it was happily blooming in the company of California poppies and saguaros. So I knew that it doesn't need much water. When I discovered it in one of my two favorite nurseries, I was thrilled and gave it a try. It is doing exceptionally well and never fails to bring a smile on my face.

The Matilija Poppies (Romneya coulteri) were doing well in front of the Smoketree (Cotinus). I love how beautiful these two plants look together.

This year I have way more insects in my garden, but unfortunately so far I wasn't able to take pictures of them all. There are ladybeetles everywhere, but I also saw soldier beetles who devour a great deal of aphids. There are tiny spiders as well as other little bugs that I still need to identify. I was happy to see the Fiery skipper on the yarrow and finally captured a Flame skimmer when he was resting on this thin branch.

Verbena bonariensis is one of my favorites. It is such a workhorse in the garden - it is tall, but doesn't obstruct any view so you can plant it even at the front of other plants. It is drought tolerant, self sows and attracts many pollinators. It thrives on neglect and flowers for a very long time.

The Centaurea I first saw in a neighbor's garden and it took a while until I actually knew what kind of plant it is. I was so surprised when I discovered it in the nursery (the same one that had the desert globe mallow) and took three of them home. Once they are established they are supposed to be very drought tolerant. I love the silver foliage.

There are Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum) in the "kitchen garden" (the part of the garden in front of my kitchen window), sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) in the back corner, and salvias throughout the garden. The hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) is a California native and has wonderful scented foliage. My only dahlia started to flower at the end of the month (I keep it in part shade) and so did the hebe.

These three are some of my most beloved favorites, all of them California natives - Coyote mint (Monardella villosa 'Russian River'), Vitis 'Roger's Red' and red flowered Buckwheat (Eriogonum grande var. rubescens). I have several other buckwheats, but the other ones are not flowering yet.

Of course I shouldn't forget the permanent resident in the garden, The One Who Rules Them All, resting under the Vitex agnus-castus.

My garden is my happy place. I work here a lot - there is always something to do - but it is a good and very satisfying kind of work. I'm still changing up a lot, but it sure is on its way to become a habitat garden.

Here is another picture of the "kitchen garden" with different kinds of salvia. The tall lavender colored one is clary sage, Salvia sclarea - very drought tolerant, self sows and a big pollinator plant.

We need a drink since this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday and a post that doesn't show anything to drink is not allowed. Since we're in the garden, let's have a fruity "garden drink" - Riesling with strawberries. Not quite like a German Erdbeerbowle (drunk strawberries) - we will have that this coming weekend.