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The Garden in June |
By June 1st, summer is here to stay with consistent temperatures in the high 20's to 30's (high 80's to 90's). Many of the perennials that thrived in the cooler weather now become dormant and need to be cut back. These include Dianthus, Felicia amelloides. and Cerastium tomentosium. Other perennials, such as Lavendula multifida need to be pruned to keep them compact.
While some plants are on the
decline others are coming into their prime
with the increased temperatures and longer hours of daylight. Plumbago auriculata
(P.capensis), which forms a loose shrub growing
to one meter in my garden, is one of these
jewels. Commonly
known as "Cape Plumbago", it has a light blue phlox-like bloom and
rambles into trees and fences. In warm climates it remains evergreen.
Bougainvillea glabra with its intense purple
color coming from its sepals is also coming into bloom . This Bougainvillea
blooms later than B.spectabilis and has a denser growth pattern.
Each of these three heat loving plants need to be pruned back hard in late
winter/early spring.
Among the evergray plants Stachys.byzantina, dusty miller and Santolina chamaecyparissus are all in flower. I enjoy the mauve flower stalks of the Stachys but I cut off the flowers of the other two plants before they open, otherwise the overall condition of the plant will suffer.
My favorite evergray plant has to be
English Lavender (Lavendula officinalis) which flowers for the whole
month just
begging to be touched so that it can release its pungent fragrance.
Now is the time to cut the flowers with their stems attached and form lavender
wands. Alternatively the stems can be tied together and hung upside down in a cool and dark
place. When completely dry, the flowers are rubbed
off and added to sachets or potpourris.
Another source of fragrance comes from the jasmine vines which are beginning to flower after being drastically cut back in early March. This annual pruning prevents dead wood build-up and reduces the weight of the vine which the fence has to support. Jasminum polyanthum is a semi-evergreen trailer with white pink-blushed flowers and fern like leaves and fills the garden with its lovely scent.
Once again an early warm spell
in March, has caused the Salvia farinacea
to begin its growth sooner than usual and
is now begging to be
cut back. Luckily the Phlox which is intermingled with the Salvia is ready
to continue the floral display in my raised bed. Other years there
flowering periods overlap and their colors complement each other. The
Phlox which I believe to be Phlox paniculata, was given to me by a
neighbor and
has thrived and multiplied in my garden. It sports bright purple-pink
flowers with narrow leaves and grows to a height of one meter. It begins
flowering by mid-June and will keep up its colorful display until mid-July when
it will be cut back. Later in the summer it will bloom again but to a
lesser extent. Although Phloxes are known to demand moisture, this plant
gets by with only a weekly watering during the heat of the summer.
Obviously the compost-enriched soil and heavy mulch of grass cuttings enable the
soil to retain the moisture.
Buddleja davidii or 'Butterfly Bush 'also begins flowering by mid-June. This floral display will continue all summer until the shrub grows too tall and needs to be cut back. It will then produce a second flowering in the fall. This is a fast growing open shrub which needs to be drastically cut down in early February to keep the shrub neat and the flowers at eye level.
Although most of the bulbs in the garden have returned to their dormant state, Kniphofia, otherwise known as 'Red Hot Poker', adds a colorful accent to the perennial bordery this month. It reaches a height of 80cm. and had been growing in a raised bed. This proved to be a mistake since the flowers were above eye level. Last year the roots were divided and planted in two different locations directly into the ground. Not expecting the Kniphofia to bloom this year, I was pleasantly surprised to spot its torch-like orange/red flowers amidst the neighboring shrubs.
Something New in the Garden
Every time I return to the New Jersey area and visit my friends, I am enthralled by their shade garden growing under the tree canopy in the back yard. Now that the orange and lemon trees which border my driveway in Greece have grown and completely shade the ground beneath, I am trying to recreate a patch of that lovely garden 'back home'. My experiment with shade loving plants now includes:
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the one cutting of a Hosta taken from the New Jersey garden to survive
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four plants, obtained locally, of Ajuga reptans or Bugle as it is commonly known. This is an excellent ground cover which is reported to do well with only a weekly watering and tolerating moderate drought
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Heuchera 'New Hybrids' plants (Coral Bells) raised from seed obtained from the Thompson & Morgan seed catalog