Six on Saturday – Juicy June

Chris Mousseau

Perhaps three months of fewer planes, trains and automobiles has lead to fewer pollution particles drifting through the air and landing on flowers and foliage. Perhaps we’ve had just the right combination of rain, sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Perhaps the garden has reached a state of harmonious joyousness. Whatever. The June garden this year is, for me, juicy. Pops and mini-explosions of colour repeating themselves left, right and centre. Height, hue, texture and shape are providing pleasing vistas and the flowers keep coming, in waves, every week.

Every Saturday, The Propagator encourages gardeners around the world to share six things that are happening in their garden. Here are my juicy six this week.

If it’s mid June it’s al about peonies. Mine have just started – here are Big Red and Pretty in Pink, both names made up by me since I have no idea what they really should be called. Sadly, neither is fragrant. Just gorgeous
This Weigela is called Stunner. It was about four inches high when I planted it two years ago so it’s grown a bit – but not much – as you can see it’s struggling to get past Allium karataviense. I’m hoping the local hummingbird family notices the flowers…
My hardy garden sage bush floundered a bit last year but it’s put on a lot of new growth this spring and is now starting to flower.
There are lupines blooming all over the place this spring. My seed scattering over the past three years is paying off.
This is the first raised bed I created after building the house. It started life as a strawberry bed and the strawberry plant in the bottom left has survived. It’s loaded with ripening berries but I imagine between the robins and the chipmunks I won’t get to taste any! The bed has morphed into a herb-kitchen-veggie garden; this year it has, going clockwise from the strawberry: tarragon, spinach, garlic, basil and shishoto peppers. Just on top of the spinach are oregano and chives.
The tall bearded Iris are on their last days, but the more refined French Iris (at the very top) and these Siberian Iris should be around for another week or so.

That’s my juicy six in the garden this week. Hope you have a lovely week-end. Stay safe.

24 Comments

  1. This is a mighty combination of stunning photographs and very well written text. We’ll done you! Maith thú.
    I do love a good circular shot, so your hardy sage brish it a hit with me.
    I also like that you are unapologetic about making up a plant name! Many thanks for sharing your juicy six.

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    1. I think the trick for lupins is to make sure seeds are scattered every year, or left to fall on their own. I don’t think they’re considered biennial but mine tend to not flower the first year either.

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    1. They really are gorgeous, and the flower balls so huge. Also, they set seed prodigiously – I could start a mail order business with the seedlings that popped up this year if I wanted!

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  5. The color scheme is pretty rich. Those lupine are rad! I can not distinguish the two iris. Are the French iris the upper half of the picure? I can see that there are what seem to be two ‘levels’ of iris. Regardless, they are remarkably elegant.

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    1. Yeah they’re cool -and, to be honest, the only difference I can see is the French ones, the top ‘featured’ photo, are more delicate – stalks thinner but taller, flowers a bit smaller. The shape and colour seem the same.

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    1. Yes, it’s the leaf colour and texture – unusual for Allium – that drew me to this one. The lovely huge flowers are a bonus for me and for a gazillion bees!

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  7. That’s an interesting comment about your lupins. I do like lupins and think it might worthwhile trying scattering – after all, foxgloves grow where they want to and always seem to pick the right spot to look good. It adds a touch of informality to the garden. I’ll continue to grow the seeds in the greenhouse, but think I’ll get some extra and have a go at scattering. Thanks for the tip.

    I also love your very informal kitchen garden bed.

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  8. Ah, the vibrancy of those iris! Chris, you and I both love our lupines (and both spell them with that North American ‘e’!!). I await peonies. There is only one white variety Duchess deNemours in bloom. I agree, few things are more disappointing than burrowing your nose into a scentless peony. Ugh. Have an excellent gardening week.

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    1. Thanks, and yes! I’ll hit 1,000 km for the year in a few weeks. Hard though to motivate into speedwork when all the races have been cancelled. 40 km….you’re virtual marathon ready!!! Good luck, and remember, ibuprofen is your friend!! 😁😁🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

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      1. Nice! I basically run a marathon or more every Saturday (plus the mid week runs) through the rest of this training plan. It’s a bit crazy, but less crazy than running 100k in one hit which is what the training is for. I half hope the event is cancelled, but till then I need to train for it. Seemed like a good idea at the time…

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