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rouge21_gw

It seems mine is June

For understandable reasons this forum is going dormant ;).

But just to put something out there...

A couple of summers ago my partner encouraged me to take pictures of the garden and put the best ones in a simple over the counter frame after having enlarged them (8 by 10). It was a lot of fun deciding which 6 to do.

Anyways, I realized a bit later that all that made the cut were from the month of June!

This is just more evidence that our garden in our zone shows its best in June.

And I think the most obvious reasons are weather related. June gets some good warm weather and precipitation is much more often than not...just right.

So in which month would you like to show your garden to other GW members? ;)

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sat, Dec 13, 14 at 14:42

Comments (45)

  • Marlorena
    9 years ago

    I might be too embarrassed to show my garden to other GW members...and most would have much too far to come... but for me May would be the best month, and more precisely, the last week in May...
    ...I shall still have late Spring flowerers like Rhododendrons and Azaleas, some late Tulips, my perennials will be growing away getting ready to flower along with my ornamental grasses.... lots of lovely fresh growth, plenty of flowers on my Mediterranean type plants like Halimium and Helianthemum...Cistus etc....and my roses will be in full bud with some early flowers...

    ..so much going on and a lot to look forward to...so yeah...end of May...

    ..nice question...

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    Yes, rouge21- I know what you mean. For northerners like us I feel it is because enough has fully leafed out and is blooming. When I think about it probably some of my favorite pics are in June. So fresh and exciting.
    Are you able to share your pics with us?

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    9 years ago

    Mine straddles two months, the end of May, the beginning of June, then it kind of slides downhill into blah, but, it may change as I am adding more phlox, helenium, and a few other perennials that have a longer blooming period.
    After June I hop over to the vegetable side of gardening, heirloom beans being another addiction of mine :).

    Annette

  • mxk3 z5b_MI
    9 years ago

    Agreed. Actually, May through June are great months in my garden with June through mid-July being the peak. However, over the last few years I've been incorporating more plants that hit their stride in late July through mid August (e.g. panicle hydrangeas, butterfly bush), so that time period looks better than it had previously.

    What really made a difference? Automatic sprinkler system. THE.BEST.MONEY spent on the garden as far as I'm concerned. Every stinkin' year my beds would be a crispy mess come end of July or early August, I couldn't keep up with the watering (well, more like I wouldn't keep up with it, I *hate* watering...you guys all know that!).

  • davids10 z7a nv.
    9 years ago

    from the beginning of may-when this pic was taken-until the end of june. new things blooming every day until it reaches a peak of impossible opulence where i just walk around going wow wow wow.

  • mxk3 z5b_MI
    9 years ago

    Oh that lush green is a site for gray sky-weary eyes...

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    9 years ago

    June is certainly lush with flowers but I find that each month of the growing season has something special to look forward to:
    - late March - April - various spring bulbs
    - May - the wisterias (sadly no blooms in 2014 due to the nasty winter!), tree peonies, late tulips, and the trilliums in the backyard
    - June - peonies! (and roses)
    - July - clematis and hydrangeas
    - August - hardy hibiscuses
    - September - the heptacodium tree, highbush cranberry fruit, and the last of the hardy hibiscuses
    - October - mums, start of fall foliage color - particularly the white ash tree, Eupatorium 'Chocolate', rose hips
    - November - 'White Pearl' bugbane, last of old-fashioned white mums.

    There are, of course, lots of other things putting on a show through the season, but those are the 'signature' plants that we look forward to as each month rolls around.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I might be too embarrassed to show my garden to other GW members...and most would have much too far to come...

    Dont be! I bet it is just wonderful.

    I have longed to return to England now that I am older and wiser and now an avid gardener. If I can swing it maybe you could let me take a peek at your garden Marlorena ;)?

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Automatic sprinkler system. THE.BEST.MONEY spent on the garden as far as I'm concerned.

    I am so jealous. I would love to have done this prior to doing all our beds but I didn't foresee how our plans for gardening would mushroom. I too hate watering. Last summer was almost perfect in that there was not much need for supplemental water. But that is the exception rather than the norm.

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    I'd say any month/time in the growing season can be optimized for maximum perennial flower colour with our marked seasonality.

    Taking May versus June:
    It's true that there's a greater variety of perennials blooming in June.

    However, I feel our garden is at least as attractive in May.
    Early May is built around a variety of lungworts, primulas and brunnera. The anenomes and hellebores are also useful. Rounding out earlier May are the later spring bulbs; namely, tulips and daffodils. The bulbs add enormously.

    Further into May there's more variety. Blooming spring pea, Virginia bluebells, columbines, trilliums, dwarf and intermediate iris, globe flowers (and alliums and agapanthus) come to mind.

    Personally, I like the detail in May. It's spread out, low down, and in clearer view. In June, a greater variety of perennials are in bloom, some of which are larger, bulkier plants, e.g peonies and tall irises. There is more flower colour, but perhaps there's also more green.

    I'm thinking that later June into earlier July is a challenging time for us to handle, as is October.

    For me, my favourite time in the growing season revolves around garden phlox.

    I seldom use annuals if a perennials bed is large enough to rely on just perennials. However, annuals can save slow periods in the growing season.

    Year-to-year things certainly don't all always work out as hoped for but I'm happy with a May outcome as below (May 20, 2013).

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    So cheery seeing these great pics. Thank you rouge21 for starting this thread.
    I really need to sort photos!
    This pic taken toward the end of June.

  • davids10 z7a nv.
    9 years ago

    nice. great aruncus

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    Thank you so much davids10. Apart from the two showing I have added A. 'Horatio' to a couple of beds. Love the genus.

  • FrozeBudd_z3/4
    9 years ago

    I'd say mid August when the paniculata hydrangeas and really showing off and the rudbeckia and annuals are in full glory .... though, also at that time the phlox and heliopsis and many other perennials are doing their thing.

  • Marlorena
    9 years ago

    oh my goodness that's gorgeous...as is Peren.all's above there too...

    ..and I love those tulips...

    is that an Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' in the bottom left of the above photo there please, twrosz? if so, I've just ordered it to grow from seed here... looks very nice too...

    rouge21...lol... thank you, and you would be most welcome, if you're over this way in 2016.... next year I'm a bit tied up....

    This post was edited by Marlorena on Sat, Dec 13, 14 at 17:59

  • FrozeBudd_z3/4
    9 years ago

    Marlorena, I keep going back to everyone's above photos, the planting schemes are a real work of talent and beauty! Yes, those are Agastache 'Golden Jubilee', it's been a mainstay here since I first planted it years ago. It freeely sows itself with abandonment if not deadheaded, but is easy to rid of unwanted seedlings, those above had chosen a perfect location to settle themselves :)

  • Marlorena
    9 years ago

    Many thanks twrosz, I'm looking forward to growing it... how wonderful that they chose that situation... I think they cool down a hot colour scheme....
    Incidentally, I've got two paniculata Hydrangeas, 'Limelight' and 'Phantom' and love them both...
    best wishes,...

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    peren all wrote:

    Are you able to share your pics with us?

    Thanks for asking but I bet most if not all were first posted (not all at once) on GW!

    But I never get tired of showing this climber which is most often at its prime by the 3rd week of June (over FATHER'S Day weekend).

    {{gwi:242723}}

    This post was edited by rouge21 on Sun, Dec 14, 14 at 11:56

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    have added A. 'Horatio' to a couple of beds. Love the genus.

    I planted a couple 'Horatio' in late summer 2013 in our shade garden. They grew large this past season and had some flowers but I am thinking that they would be more floriferous if they received more sun.

    I had debated between Actaea "Misty Blue" and Aruncus for that newly created garden and right now (probably still too early to decide) I wish I had gone with MB. I put 2 of these baneberries in another quite shady location and they did so well last year and I really liked the very striking doll-eye berries.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Those are ridiculously wonderful pictures 'Peren.all' and 'twros'.

    'SB', everytime I look at your photo I see one more plant that I hadnt seen before!

    Superb pic 'david'.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I was thinking a bit more about my choice of June.

    And of course it is in this month that our roses come into bloom and my favourite alliums are going full bore.

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    rouge21--I am really new to GW and I am sure there are many others that have never seen your pics either.
    For those who have had the pleasure, would enjoy seeing them again. Please post if you choose (No pressure) LOL!
    It seems A 'Horatio' is a little slower to establish than species but worth the wait.
    Adding another pic so hopefully this thread continues.

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    WOW!!! rouge21 So happy you added that pic. Beyond tremendous. More coming I hope.

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    Rouge, I've got a lot of useful information from David Tomlinson who maintains around 1500 different perennials in Merlin's Hollow. A lot of these were grown, by him, from seed.

    Have also picked up a lot of useful information, e.g. about new cultivars that will work here, from you!

  • davids10 z7a nv.
    9 years ago

    sometimes i convince myself that i like shrubs best of all. grew aruncus for years in (very) dry shade-moved some into better conditions and they have sulked and limped along for a couple of years. i've said it before-sometimes plants are hard to figure.

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    Interesting post above by Campanula.

    It obviously all depends on options and tastes.

    Looked at Landscape Ontario: Perennials in Bloom Month by Month. April (16% of 216 listed), May (20%), June (29%), July (18%), August (10%) and September (7%).
    So June takes the prize.

    But further to Campanula's other choices:

    With fewer perennials in bloom, it doesn't mean less colour, just fewer colours.

    Helenium carries the day: August 28, 2011.

  • aseedisapromise
    9 years ago

    In pride of May
    The fields are gay,
    The birds do sweetly sing. Fa la la!
    So Nature would
    That all things should
    With joy begin the spring. Fa la la!

    Then, Lady dear,
    Do you appear
    In beauty like the spring: Fa la la!
    I dare well say
    The birds that day
    More cheerfully will sing. Fa la la!

    In Pride of May Thomas Weelkes

    Potential is wonderful. Reality, at least here, is sometimes a little more rough around the edges. But early June here with the iris going full tilt, and then August with the xeri perennials are my favorites.

  • Campanula UK Z8
    9 years ago

    Um, the perception of beauty is so personal...and gardens are infinitely more than a collection of plants While I take pleasure in every month, and there is no denying the lush generosity of the summer months, my pride and pleasure is less connected to visual aesthetics (although I am not immune) than those moments of ineffable joy, when I feel an almost visceral connection with my garden. Tends to surface in times of intense change, when the garden is at its most dynamic, promising (and sometimes failing) a new (and better) season of splendour - those moments of heart-lifting anticipation and hope... and at the other end of the year, a time of reflection and poignancy.- damp, slightly rank, even mournful but, at least in the Yare valley woods, this is a starkly beautiful time of slanting light and long shadows.

  • Marlorena
    9 years ago

    How lovely...the poem as well as the plant..and that must be a difficult climate to garden in where you are...

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago

    Autumn is the best by a landslide with October as the peak month. The sky is bluer, the bugs are down, the humidity is low and the weeds aren't growing rampantly. I much prefer it to masses of green growth and bright colors of spring and summer. The greens tone down into various complimentary and contrasting shades, the flower colors are softer & more mellow creating complex & subtle hues while the individual textures separate and plants are at their peak of glory, most with a second peak bloom period along with the long rays of the sun creating glorious effects through tall swaying grasses and dried seed heads of different tones and textures. I love the softer colors of fall more so than the lush green foliage and riot of bright color of spring/summer.

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    Very poetic, Campanula.

  • aseedisapromise
    9 years ago

    I was thinking that folks in more southern climes would really like the fall. A lot of plants here perk up when the weather isn't so hot.

    Actually, the poem is a madrigal from the late 1600's. People in Britain have been liking the prideful spring for a long time.

    Here is a link that might be useful: song video

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago

    aseedofpromise, June is hot & humid, its my least favorite month because its the most miserable from the humidity and some plants get disease or die. Its a kind of test month when you really find out what doesn't like hot/humid climates and my garden doesn't look its best then, some plants literally steam-cook. Later on you find out what can't take the dry & real heat. Everything that survived is happy in fall which is like a blessing.

  • catkin
    9 years ago

    Beautiful photos! It is a goal of mine to have the large drifts of perennials you've been showing but I need more depth to my borders!

    I can't say what time if year is the best in my garden although I dearly love Spring. I'd show mine anytime of year...guts feathers and all! LOL! This pic shows a favorite time--less grass!

    Here, earlier in the year, DH removed some sod--not enough, though--need more gone! It's in a pile rotting down for the future.

    Urn frippery pic for camp :wink wink: I have more than I'd previously thought!

  • catkin
    9 years ago

    Same area after some of my planting frenzy. I think I have too many plants :gasp: for the space I have!

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    catkin---Love it! Less lawn, more garden. It is such a win, win scenario. That was a big job and it looks great.
    I can totally relate to " removed some sod--not enough, though--need more gone!" LOL!

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    As you say, catkin, depth is a big asset for perennial borders.

    At the same time, the greater the depth the more the maintenance.

    Can you expect or stop weeds running or seeding in from behind?

    Deep edging certainly helps in front.

    The overall look is very attractive.

  • davids10 z7a nv.
    9 years ago

    every shade of green-a big reason i like spring best-planted delphinium seeds today-individual pots-and put them in the new cold frame

    This post was edited by davids10 on Tue, Dec 16, 14 at 19:30

  • peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
    9 years ago

    davids10--That is a really nice looking Persicaria polymorpha. It is one of my all time favorites.
    If it isn't please ID .

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    SB, that is a really cool set of bloomin' statistics from LANDSCAPE ONTARIO. It does seem to explain my June observation.

    Very eloquent stated 'campanula'

    Great pictures 'catkin' showing the increase in border perennials. It appears you have some wonderful trees serving as the bones for this section of garden. I am envious of all the space you have at your disposal...sigh.

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    Thanks, Rouge.

    Their data, my stats.

    Am guessing there's a relationship to changes in the position of the sun overhead and the length of daily sunlight. The summer solstice is on or around June 21 in our hemisphere.

    No light, no photosynthesis, etc..

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Also contributing to the greater variety of flowers in June is more and predictable precipitation? I could look it up but I have no doubt that there is less rain in August than in June.

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    Makes complete sense, Rouge.

    In terms of highest monthly precipitation here, the average monthly precipitation increases in the order: October, July, April, June, May, August, September.

    So all in all, "May showers bring June flower".

    And then there's the snow meltwater to consider!

  • davids10 z7a nv.
    9 years ago

    late june early july just before heat really hits. digging new cold frame came up against aruncus, despite being in place 20 years roots very rudimentary. three very hot, very, very dry summers i suppose. they had put out new growth as soon as weather cooled and there was a little water. moved them to better-i hope-place.

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