Garden Journal :: June 2007

June 1-3 :: warm and dry

... with the exception of an afternoon drenching of very cold rain on the 3rd, just in time for a picnic.

Sow Burpee Nasturtium Fordhook to climb garden arch.

Sow Burpee Nasturtium Empress of India to edge front of vegetable garden and sunny places on west edge of the back mound.

:: the peonies expire quickly.

One plus from all the hot dry air is that I do not have black spot on any peonies or roses for the first time since moving here in 1992.

Transplant and thin self seeding flowers: cosmos, larkspur & snapdragons.
Transplant echinacea, yarrow & feverfew.

June 4

:: I shape up the forsythia. Then it rains.

Somehow I forgot to let the 18" electric trimmer do the work and treated it like a machete. My right arm (injured at Christmas) hurt for a week and a half...

June 8th :: golf to tennis ball sized hail!

:: the clover head is about a half inch, which means the largest stone pictured is about 3" in diameter!

The following week, our street is crawling with inspectors and adjusters. We need to replace our almost new roof and some siding.

June 10th

:: I discover how the 150mph stones pierced my hostas. You can see the trajectory as the stone passed through one leaf after another.

Juneteenth :: we get a wetting, but not enough to soak

:: roses peak. This is a Grahm Thomas whose name I forget. It is free of blackspot and thrips this year, thanks to the dry conditions.

:: Begin thinning lettuces.

:: Onlso poses with the Grahm Thomas Heritage roses.

June 17th

:: Daylilies begin to pop.

Weeding, weeding, weeding.

Daily watering transplanted echinacea, choreopsis and yarrow, moved in early June.

June 20th

Starbuck attempts to destroy newly purchased Sundrops "Sunset Boulevard" so I get them in the ground and water... water... water.

Weeding and edging with the spade. Nothing comes up without first breaking up the ground.

:: Climbing Nasturtiums are progressing.

June 26th

First larkspur blooms. Hollyhocks peak.

:: the zucchini plants a neighbor gave me are thriving in the hot dry weather.

June 28th or so :: rain with a cold front that hangs around

Transplant more feverfew, pyrithrum daisies and yarrow to the bare spots on the mound.

:: I create a path in the secret place with stones found under our deck