On this June day…

On this June day the buds in my garden are almost as enchanting as the open flowers. Things in bud bring, in the heat of a June noontide, the recollection of the loveliest days of the year – those days of May when all is suggested, nothing yet fulfilled.
– Francis King

Purple coneflower. Echinacea purpurea. “…suggested, not yet fulfilled.”

The unopened bloom is almost. almost. as pretty as the opened bloom.

So symmetrical. So green. So full of promise, with not even a hint of the “cone” of which its name comes from.

And then this happens. The bloom is fulfilled and oh, so enchanting.

The many stages of blooms in just one brief snapshot. From bud to cone. From suggestion to fulfilled.

~ ~ ~

I garden to have year-round color, so “all” is not suggested in May as Francis King writes, yet his thought is so beautiful I cannot pass over it.

In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.
– Aldo Leopold

Indeed, a dozen species – or so it seems- are bursting forth each day. Spring rains have left the garden lush and thriving. Especially the weeds. But such is life in the garden.

The daylilies are stealing the scene on this June day. The winecups continue to offer a colorful backdrop from every vantage point.

This one (I believe it is Ruby Spider) is especially big and bold today. Oakes Daylilies has long been my go-to source for quality daylilies. Their website allows you to shop by bloom size, bloom height, color or many other features you may be searching for.

For me, last year was the year I shopped for daylilies with huge blooms. That decision is paying off already with this stunner!

Daylily blooms, as their name suggest, last for one day. Daylily plants are generally loaded with both blooms and buds this time of year. The suggested and the fulfilled.

(Speaking of weeds. Sometimes our “weeds” were once well intended plants that thrived all too well in the garden. Such is the case with that lovely Oriental Limelight Artemisia, to the left of the daylily in the photograph above… It is beautiful, but way, way too happy in my garden!)

It’s beautiful the Summer month of June
When all of God’s own wildflowers are in bloom
And sun shines brightly most part of the day
And butterflies o’er lush green meadows play.

– Francis Duggan, June

Zexmenia, a Texas native wildflower, is coming in to bloom.

I have yet to see many butterflies fluttering over its sun gold blooms… I am trying not to worry, but the bees and butterflies have been noticeably absent from my garden this spring. I am hoping the rain has just delayed their presence. National Pollinator Week is coming up and, like every year, I will add more pollinator plants to my garden. Won’t you do the same? So much of our food supply is dependent on pollinators and our pollinators are struggling as more and more of the world is moving from rural, untouched earth to developed suburbia.

In Dallas, North Haven Gardens is hosting a workshop for National Pollinator Week. Planting a pollinator garden with your children or grandchildren is a great way to expose young ones to the joy of gardening. I hope to write more on that in the upcoming weeks.

No flowers, no bees;
No bees, no flowers.
Blooming and buzzing,
Buzzing and blooming;
Married and still in Love.
–  Mike Garofalo, Cuttings

One of the benefits – and joys — of planning and planting a garden for year-round color is that you can attract – and assist – wildlife year-round. In the photo above are winecups,  coneflowers and daylilies. The winecups and coneflowers are both native, while the daylililes are well adapted to much of the United States. They have similar water, soil and sun requirements, though their bloom season overlaps. The winecups have been blooming for well over a month now…while the daylililes and coneflowers are just now starting to bloom. The coneflowers will now bloom off and on to our first freeze. All are beneficial to pollinators. I will allow the late coneflowers to dry on the plant, where the seeds will attract and feed winter birds.

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.
– L. M. Montgomery

I love L.M. Montegomery’s thought. June is perhaps my favorite time of year. So much happening in the garden! And yet… I would miss the other seasons in the garden.

Our native Button Bush is just now forming buds, these tiny green balls – so much suggested and not yet fulfilled.

Same with our native Beauty Berry. As the name applies, it has beautiful berries, still a few months from fully developing and ripening into its rich purple berries that the birds love.

Our native Turk’s Cap has loved the abundant rains this spring, but its red blooms – a true hummingbird magnet – have not yet appeared. Once it starts blooming, it will continue to bloom – and attract wildlife – through to our first freeze next fall/winter.

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.
–  Gertrude Jekyll, On Gardening

I hope you have enjoyed walking through my garden and my thoughts with me today.