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Friday, June 24, 2016

The Garden in June

 In an attempt to keep my promise to blog more often than once a month, here's my second post for June!! 

Back in the 80's, I used to love making macrame plant hangers. A few years ago, I made some for our patio when we first moved in, but I have hunted high and low and been unable to find them, so I made a few more. Happily I discovered Hobby Lobby have a decent selection of cords, metal rings and beads!


We have three Crepe Myrtles in the garden, but this is the best of them.  Last year a hummingbird could be seen daily perched in the branches, keeping an eye on the feeders.


I know I planted several of this Liatris, but this is the only one that came up (or possibly the others got "weeded" before I realized what they were. It's surrounded by Salvia Greggi and Pineapple Sage.

Here's the Turk's Cap I showed in my last post, happily settling in to its new home. I noticed some volunteer Turk's Cap seedlings under the Southern Wax Myrtle that will need to come out.



Another plant that I think suffered from my early spring "weeding" was Zinnia.  Last year the flower beds were overrun with zinnia, but my vigorous hoeing this spring meant that I ended up having to buy more!


Some of the daylilies are still hanging on and shrugging off the heat now summer is here.




Lots of little joys in this island bed this year.  First, the Hamelia Patens that I thought had died actually came back and is flowering.  Plus the Cosmos and Cleome that I started from seed are doing well (no photos).  Finally, the native milkweed I planted earlier in the year are coming along nicely.  No blooms yet, and they are still small, but I hope the Monarch butterflies will be able to enjoy them for a long time to come.

Here's a long shot of the island bed -- earlier in the week I planted some Dallas Red and Pot of Gold Lantana across the front side.  They will spread and fill in the bare patches as summer draws on and the butterflies will love them in July and August.


I'm so happy I managed to bring the Rose of Sharon (via cuttings) from my previous house.  I just love it's happy blooms, and the bees and hummingbirds love it too :-)


 This next photo is rather deceptive.  Unfortunately our Sam Houston peach tree just isn't living up to its name.  First of all, the tree never properly rooted -- if it weren't for be staked up, it would fall over.  All it's roots are in the top couple of inches and none have ventured down far enough to anchor it.  Too much clay down there I guess, even though we dug a pretty big hole when we planted it.



While this looks like a nice big healthy juicy peach, it's rather small and there's a bruise/hole on the other side.  Update:  I decided to go and check on it today and there was another one near it that wasn't too beaten up so I picked it and ate it.  It was the most delicious peach I have ever eaten!  Sweet, juicy, warm from the sun.  We have to try and save this tree!

That's it for today's post - I hope my dad enjoys it after his comment on my last post!

Today I'm linking up with  the following memes:

Friday Flower Photos hosted by Nick V.
Flower Friday hosted by Aquariann
Today's Flowers hosted by Denise at An English Girl Rambles

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

16 comments:

joanna uk said...

Liatris seems to disappear often. I don't weed but realize now that mine has gone as well. Pity. It was white and tall and the spire made a nice contrast.
You have enough other pretty things though.

joanna

eileeninmd said...

Hello, Jayne, your garden looks beautiful. I love all the pretty flowers. Zinnias and the daylilies are favorites of mine. I am waiting for our crepe myrtle to bloom, I love it.

The peach looks delicious! Happy Friday, enjoy your day and weekend!

Jayne said...

Thanks Joanna :-)

Jayne said...

Thank you eileeninmd, Yes zinnias and dailyness are favorites of mine too. Last year my island beds were overflowing with zinnias and I don't have nearly so many this year.

The peach was delicious (all three bites of it!)

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Your flowers are looking so vibrant and healthy. So many different colors to enjoy.
I tried my hand at macramé but sadly never completed the project, your plant hanger is lovely, and looks perfect hanging on your porch.
Rose of Sharon is a favorite bush of mine, they are truly indestructible.
Hope you are cooling off a little !
~Jo

Dorothy Borders said...

Your "garden in June" looks great, especially considering the swampy conditions we had all spring. And I do love the macrame.

Jayne said...

Thanks for stopping by Jo. Yes, cooling off indoors this afternoon. I don't do very well here in the summer and have to be careful I don't overheat.

Jayne said...

Thank you Dorothy. Funny thing is, I actually had to run the sprinklers this week. There were cracks in the dirt around the house! Who would have thought after all that rain!

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

Your garden is lovely. I am still waiting for my crepe myrtle to bloom.

Jayne said...

Thank you Carol. I'm lucky that our crepe myrtles bloom all summer here.

betty-NZ said...

It looks like a wonderful garden with so many different colors and shapes.

Kristin Aquariann said...

Gorgeous garden! I am sending healing sparkles to your peach tree and hope they help produce more tasty treats.

Jayne said...

Thank you Betty and Kristin.

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Lovely shots, Jayne. The Rose of Sharon is so beautiful!
Thank you for taking part in the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

Rock rose said...

I'm glad your garden recovered from the flooding it got this spring. Maybe some of the seeds were lost in the abundance of water. Hoping your peach makes a better showing next year. But one delicious one is a start. Your liatris is very early. I wonder if it is a different kind. Mine just seed all over the place-in fact they are quite a pest-but don't bloom until fall.

DeniseinVA said...

So pretty and love all these beautiful flowers. I am back from my blogging break and slowly catching up :)