🌀 Fertilized again on June 21
It came down hard enough to flood the kitchen. Ack.
The whole day was unsettled and overcast with big dark clouds.
Lovely dry summery days. But the yard stinks.
In prior years the golden rays disappeared, sheared off every stem, leaving just the seedhead. This year it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Maybe I'm shortening the lives of these perennials with too much water, but I can't see the point of growing dry-adapted plants that live but look terrible.
The rose in the corner is still awkward, kind of scrunched up against the wall, but as I get it to scramble out over the fence it will be good. It is blooming like crazy.
June 30
June ends with a full inch of rain overnight. Monsoon season is well underway. Early, and generous so far. Everything looks pretty fabulous.
After a dry, rainless spring, we now have a total of 2.5 inches of rain for the season -- almost half the usual total -- with all of July, August, and September still ahead.
June 21
Heavy rain tonight -- ¾ of an inch in a brief half hour as a storm cell rolled through.
Is this an early start to monsoon season?
In the cool damp mid 60s weather this morning before the rain I planted out the pink irises I got from Andrea. She dug up her huge clump and had plenty to share.
They look a lot like Beverly Sills, but she thinks they are something else. Pretty, though, like what I had in CT, although I only had a few and they disappeared after a few years.
I planted the irises in the only open spot I have, the unresolved area in front of the Chinese privet by the garage.
It always looked empty there, especially the view down the walkway from the deck.
Now the redbud is flanked by two stands of irises -- the white ones behind the bench and these new pink ones. Separate clumps and the foliage of each looks different, but as the white ones mature and the pink ones settle in next year, I hope they look cohesive, if not matching.
After irises bloom they are just foliage all summer, but that's okay to screen behind the bench and backing the curved plantings around the birdbath, which still have a lot of growing to do.
June 19
The Dark Towers penstemons under the pine tree didn't look great this year and are starting to go by. I watered them a lot this spring, as I did everything, but they came in sparse and thin looking.
The flowers were nice, but not as full and robust as in past years. Did I overwater??
You know what looks good? The Japanese forest grasses -- one in the ground and two in pots. They have finally filled out. They are doing exactly what I wanted, making a bright eye-catching fountain of foliage in the dark corner under the aspens.
The Royal Candles veronicas are reliable, and have performed well each year. They are now blooming and are a nice color and form.
The redbud has struggled, but looks fine this year. Still small, with very little height after 6 years, but very leafy.
I do wish it would gain some vertical height. I know 'Oklahoma' wants to have a rounded canopy, but it does need to get some size.
June 18
The privets are blooming and the the Spanish broom stuck in the corner of the front portal is still blooming profusely. Neither of these smells very good.
But the broom is bright and cheerful and it does fill that unresolved corner.
It's nice seen from inside, with the windows closed to keep the smell out.
Next to it the fall anemone is getting large and leafy, but I do need to pull suckers all the time.
The birdbath ring is starting to look good, although still uneven. It still needs to fill out on the left side. Creeping time is blooming full and soft.
There is some height now, as the perennials rise up above the thyme.
The Crystal Peak obedient plants are starting to bloom, and the mealycup sages, although the sages are a subtle blue and not very showy. I water deeply every day to keep the emerging black eyed Susans from withering.
Scarlet monardellas under the back yard privet are blooming, also very subtle, but I like them. The ones under the pine tree in front don't do as well.
I have to water the black eyed Susans in the potting bench curve a lot. There are no emitters right at that spot and they wilt. I think I need to take them out and put in a nice yarrow. The Coronation Gold yarrow in the driveway strip is blooming beautifully this year, but flops forward a lot. I watered it too much.
In the potting bench curve next to the Jupiter's Beard and without emitters right at its base, a yarrow would do well I think. After the bright blooms go by the standing brown seedheads stay architectural and would fill the spot against the garage wall.
June 17
The Leilani coneflowers look great this year.
I have been watering this stand in the kitchen courtyard very deeply almost every day. And I fertilized twice, once in May and again June 1.
It seems to make a difference.
The stand of Leilani coneflowers in the dining room window garden, in more shade, have yet to open up but the foliage looks sturdy. I give those a lot of water too.
I've been watering everything deeply and often this year, and running the irrigation 4 times a week. All the guides say that's too much, but without that much watering (overwatering?) my plants grow stunted, seem to be prey to insects, and don't look good.
These look great now.
June 10
WOW. Rain.
At the height of the growing and blooming season.
Three quarters of an inch of steady, gentle rain that lasted all night and all this morning. No hard downpours that wash out over dry soil, no thunder or lightning, just soft soaking rain.
It's cold today, only mid 50s after a hot week of temperatures in the 90s in the afternoons. Boy did things cool off.
It's rare to have this kind of rain, or any rain, in June. Monsoons don't start until later, and when they come they are brief and hard, the result of turbulent storms.
This was really nice.
June 9
The kitchen courtyard is finally something to look at. No longer the stunted, clumpy, small space I struggled to design. It looks great in June.
The view at a distance as I sit on the birdbath bench is composed and full. Adding the redtwig dogwood as a shrub layer and the tree stump as a focal point at the back has helped., The honeysuckle finally is big and lush. Two white planters -- the blueberry and the white bowl -- bring the eye forward across the flagstones.
I like this space a lot more now. I like how it welcomes you in from the gate as you pass it, and how it looks full, viewed across the flagstones from the side. I like looking out the kitchen door on a sunny day and seeing its cheerfulness right there.
June 5
Roses are out. Lovely.
The kitchen courtyard finally looks like the lush, bright garden spot I wanted. The sweet orange geums are going by, but the plants still have presence and fill the area.
Cool mornings, hot afternoons. It's June.
June 1
Lovey hot, sunny, dry days that get up to the low 80s, but the breezes are refreshing and mornings / evenings are cool.
Everything looks full and perky and nice. Irises and columbines have gone by, but orange geums still bloom (I've been good about daily deadheading) and the royal blue veronicas are opening. Red Cascade rose has started to bloom and Kintzley's Ghost is leafy and flowering.
The pretty Bioko geraniums are just beautiful under the aspens, and the Japanese forest grasses are finally becoming fountainy. Pink Jupiter's Beard (it's really not "red" valerian) is flowery and the yellow Bartzella peony is doing its brief but showy thing.
Amsonias are having a moment and I want more, planted where I can see them easily!
The red salvias under the sundial are blooming -- I hope they bloom a long time and are still going when the yellow flowered hairy goldenasters and the purple agastache open later. I love that combo.
I overwatered the yarrow in early spring. I stopped when they opened blooms but there is an emitter right at the base. I might try to move that. They are very floppy, but flowering brightly.
A nice start to June. We need rain, but June is the hottest driest month. I water constantly, I fertilized everything this first day of June, and I hope to keep things from wilting and shrinking.
Except for around the birdbath where plants are new, the rest of the gardens are filling in beautifully.