Garden Tour

 Just as I thought, things are happening fast in the garden right now! We had a nice soaking rain last week, and then the heat wave arrived. Today is the last day of that and also the hottest with a record high of 96 and low of 73. I've actually been enjoying it, especially after such a cold June (we had a light frost on the 15th and 22nd!). So, I am about to take you on a looong garden tour!

Remember when we could hardly see the house over the snow?

What a different world it is now! Those rose bushes were completely buried, by the way!

The old rugosa roses that were here when we moved in were the only roses to survive last winter. I guess I'm going to have to look into getting some Canadian Explorer roses.

The lupines were absolutely lovely last week, but now are starting to look a little messy as they go to seed. Oh well, there are disadvantages to being a serious seed-saver with limited space, but it's worth it!

I am delighted with my little herb garden right now. The only thing missing is the foxgloves, none of whom survived last winter either. 

But the Valerian! It may well be my favorite herb! These in the herb garden are blooming for the first time and are a little smaller. The plants in the flower garden are now over 6 feet tall!

It will perfume the whole yard with only a few flowers open!

And butterflies love it! I saw this one fluttering around them one morning and was so frustrated because I didn't have the camera. But it stayed so long I finally decided to go back and get it, and sure enough it was still there and stayed around long enough for me to get several pictures.

The comfrey has gotten huge. I finally cut some of it back yesterday because it was toppling over onto the plants in front of it, but I may have to cut them back all the way because they are starting to get powdery mildew. 

The flowers make for some very happy bumble bees!

The Castor Beans are finally settled in and starting to grow again in the heat.

Evening Dame's Rocket, Sweet Rocket, Damask Violet, Vesper Flower...whatever you want to call it! 

The Sweet Williams are at their loveliest.

I loved the markings on this one!

And this...

This one is a bit of an oddity...kinda reminds me of a baobab tree!

'Sarah Bernhardt' is my favorite peony...I just wish it would have waited until the rain was over before bursting into bloom!

I'm not sure what was in that rain we had last week! There wasn't much wind and most of the time it was a light rain or mist...but the next day I noticed that this tree had just fallen over!

A little later the same day my sister and I were standing under this tree in the front yard when we suddenly heard a loud crack and down came this branch (we got out of the way just in time)! I know it was old and dead anyway, but it's been there a long time. There was also a young tree bent over my running trail!

But, back to the flowers! My 'Benjamin Franklin' peony surprises me every year, sometimes blooming earlier than 'Sarah Bernhardt', and sometimes later! 

The bees seem to prefer it over all the other peonies.

I don't know the name of this one. It came free with a nursery order a couple years ago and this is its first year to bloom.

'Coral Charm' is opening, too!

This is Kniola's Purple-Black morning glory. It is just beginning to climb the arbor (after I stopped it from trying to strangle the forget-me-nots!) but is already flowering close to the ground. It looks like the center is glowing in every picture I've taken!

The Anise has been doing very well. From what I read it will be little short of a miracle if it ripens seed here, but who knows? 

My French Mallow plants are starting to bloom. The seeds came from Monticello!

The seed garden...well, it isn't as good as I hoped, nor as bad as I feared considering the poorness of the soil in this spot. Still, I think most of my seed supply is going to come from the flower gardens again this year. I made the mistake of letting the buckwheat go to seed last summer, so it has been coming up everywhere. Oh well, I guess that's just more soil improvement! 
It has turned out to be more of a place to put the extra plants that I had no room for in the flower gardens, although there is a nice patch of dill and borage. I'll know to plan better next year!

The mint is happy!

I've never done well growing basil, but oddly enough my plants seem to like it better here than in my little herb garden!

Close-up of the dill...

This is completely unrelated, but I just thought some of you would enjoy seeing my new "grandogs"! These are Nellie's babies (born June 6th). There are 6 girls and 1 boy. I can't believe how fast they are growing up! 

And this is one of Carina's boys born in February! He spent last weekend with us and we had a lot of fun! His name is Henry. :)

Carina was excited to see him! She is such a loving mama.

Alright, I think that's everything! Thanks for coming along with me!