June, my favorite month. There is a lot blooming in our zone 7 western Oregon garden. In order to keep things more manageable for me, I categorized the flowers by where they roughly occur in the yard: orchard and rock gardens, south creek garden, perennial beds, and other. Then, I promised myself that I would only post the flowers that occurred in the category with the least number of photos. The “other” category won the day, with the least number of photos from various parts of the yard and from work.
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is a blogging challenge hosted by Carol J. Michel at her May Dreams Gardens blog. Please take a look and see what is blooming in June around the rest of the world.
Starting with our new trellis system that we installed on the wood shed this spring during Spring Break (here).
Shocking how quickly it is being covered up by Aristolochia californica, Clematis tangutica, Eccremocarpus scaber, and Dioscorea batatas (the cinnamon vine). It’s the latter I want to show off because the flowers are unusual.
There they are! Not much too look at, I know. But, I wanted to show them off as part of my fondness for the overlooked and undervalued flowers of the world. Down below the vines, feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) has seeded everywhere. One of those flowers that reminds me of grandma, so it stays. The Chilean glory vine (Eccremocarpus scaber) is also beginning to bloom with its red and orange flowers.
Other vines to show off include a wisteria that I grew from seed. No clue which one. I wanted to grow it into a small tree, but the support system collapsed and I haven’t had time to replace it. So, it just slumps around the deer garden out near the road. This is its second year blooming after sowing it maybe 8 years ago.
Continuing the vine theme, Rosa ‘Radway Sunrise’ (left) is replacing the other climbing rose (right) that was growing on the side of the pump house. That one was pretty, but was wickely thorny, didn’t have a scent, and only bloomed once a year for only a week or two. It got chopped down earlier this year because it wasn’t worth the space or the pain. Radway Sunrise seems much less thorny, is supposed to rebloom, and as a light scent. Looking forward to seeing how it does as a replacement.
Out along the woodland border that you see behind the pump house, the red stem ceanothus (Ceanothus sanguineus) is blooming as are the wild roses (possibly Rosa nutkana).
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) too.
Going with the theme from my last post about learning to embrace the wild nature of our garden, here the yellow flowers and large leaves of Turkish sage (Phlomis russeliana) intermingles with an abundance of horsetail and some poppies that seeded in at the top. What a lush mess. I would love to replace the old lean-to (center) that currently houses our firewood and renovate the small shed (right) as a small, cute outdoor office/potting shed. Not a priority this summer though.
I propagated this musky muskflower (Erythranthe moschata) from the timber plantation across the street before it became restricted access.
Ending with the flowers of a Gasteria at work. I know I highlighted it back in April, but this little guy just keeps sending up blooms. What a great plant!
That’s it for this bloom day post. I hope to highlight the other areas mentioned above over the next few days if time allows.
That’s a wonderful compilation of plants (other than the Tanacetum) I’ve never seen before. Even the Wisteria has a wild look to it that’s very different from those I see at my local botanic garden. The trellis area at the back of the wood shed looks great, although it’s almost scary how fast those vines are growing.
Thanks! I am pleased with how well the trellis has turned out. It’s nice to have something interesting there instead of a bare wall.
I so agree about loving the small unshowy flowers. My favourite is the ivy leaved toadflax which self seeds all over the walls of my garden, the flowers are tiny but the bees love them.
Ah, I’ve never grown toadflax, but know the flower. It is a cute little thing.
I was not previously familiar with Dioscorea batatas, I love it! I wish I had the space to grow a wisteria, as its blooms are a favorite, the large one growing in front of the architecture firm I used to work at was once of my favorite things about that job! Hope to see the rest of your blooms…
Supposedly, Dioscorea batatas is edible, but haven’t wanted to dig up the tuber to eat it. I am really happy I got the wisteria to do so well from seed. Maybe someday I will create an arbor for it.
Your June looks lovely. You do have a bit of a wild look going on in your garden, and it is quite beautiful.
Lots of wildness, indeed. it’s a handful. Glad you enjoyed it.