Summer Is Coming

The garden is beginning its fragrant and colorful journey. It happens about this time every year. The green of the foliage gives way to brightly colored blooms. Some of the blooms last througout the summer, others last only a short time.

The roses are bursting with buds and newly opened blooms. One of the roses I grew from seed bloomed for the first time this year. It is a rugosa rose with a lovely clear purple bloom. It is the most fragrant rose in my garden.

The valerian or as some know it, garden heliotrope, is opening. I love the vanilla fragrance of the blooms. Clematis are either blooming or budding depending on variety. The peony buds are swelling and the iris are opening. The green iris I ordered three years ago has its first buds on it. I am anxious to see what color they will really be.

Everywhere I look flowers are opening. The orange poppies are in bloom. Others will follow closely. Visitors to the garden often think the poppies are thistle but they are not. I have one last lilac in bloom as well as several other shrubs. The mock orange have big buds on them but have not opened yet. The wisteria also has large buds on it.

The hardy banana I planted last year, Musa basjoo, has come back. I have three tiny bananas coming up. Woo Hoo! The Chinese fan palm has also survived another winter here as has the camellia. When the tropicals pop their heads above ground it just amazes me.

The ornamental grasses are not at their full glory yet and are often mistaken for tall grass, especially by those who have no idea what is happening here.  I have been told it all looks like tall grass. I really wish people would take the time to find out instead of just judging.

Beauty the horse and the goats would love to eat some of my plants. I understand that goats love roses and I sure know they love trees and bushes. Luckily for me they cannot get into my main garden. They do enough damage as it is when they escape and get into the bird garden.

I love the fragrance, especially of the evening. Watching the birds is so nice. There are so many and they just seem to be everywhere. Hopefully this means I will not have a Japanese Beetle or mosquito problem this year.

I often wonder if people who start large gardens always struggle until they get it established to make it look pleasing. This has been quite the experience. I would not trade it however. I know one of these days I will look back and wonder where all the large plants came from. I think of the tiny seedlings in my greenhouse now and know they won’t look like more than a weed to most people but someday they will be the most beautiful flowers in the garden to me. After all, I am the one who nurtured them from a tiny seed into a full grown flower.