Nearing the middle of June

The catch up for June continues.

There are always many gardening chores for the entire month of June that one often wonders if they will all get done.

Bill spent quite a bit of time getting areas ready for vegetables (here and there!), and plantings of Buckwheat. The potato crop looks quite good so far.

The grass always seems to be needing a haircut. We finally got our "birthday" Pine planted in its destined spot.

Tomatoes were planted, and no frost befell, so that was good.

The nights stayed quite cool for a great part of the month, but we haven't had any frosts.

Peppers and basil finally got to stay outside.

We have been planting peppers in planters for the last few seasons. They seem to do a bit better "in captivity" than in the garden. It also makes getting the hot peppers ripened a bit easier.

We always do a few planters for decorative purpose, so those needed to be done. They are settling in quite nicely by now. The barrel by the road looks quite decent.

All the chores were accompanied by the rapid progression of bloom in the garden

Azalea season started well and will be quite good until the end of the month. These coral azaleas are always very eye catching.Every year it seems the azaleas are ever faithful. Perhaps they deserve a separate posting.

Memories of "JAKE"

We had the unfortunate loss of our old golden dog '"Jake" on June 5th.

He had been with us for most of his twelve years, and was a fixture throughout the gardening year.

Reclining in the Glory of the Snow

...and beside the Impatiens bed

Chasing sticks was a life long occupation.....small and big......Helping with the fall potato storage....Winter was a sometimes thing.....indoor reclining was most common. We think he had a good life with us.

JUNE....the month we ignored

The whole month of June has pretty much come and gone, and no blogging has been done!

It was certainly not an uneventful month, but perhaps we shall have to deal with it in a few little "reprises".

Early June saw us just at the beginning of rhododendron season, which was overall a bit disappointing due to the loss of flower buds. Winter played a nasty trick at some stage.

R. schlippenbachii was not among those affected. It was its usual beautiful self.

There were some nice surprises though.

The Magnolias were quite lovely this year....this is 'Butterflies'

We were also still at the ending of tulip season, and the beginning of Bleeding Heart mode.

Seeing a bleeding heart leads us to the next "reprise".