June Bloom Day

Hard to believe it's mid-June already, and time for Bloom Day!  It's been busier than usual, hotter than usual, and much drier than usual this month, much like the rest of Spring 2012 in our little corner of the world.

Still, Bloom Day goes on, and these are some favorite blooms in our garden this month. Tree pruning last year left us with a bit more sun, and that's meant more blooms at once than ever before on this 8-year-old mini rose.

Borage grown from seeds from Renee's Garden last year happily reseeded, and are most welcome for their second year.

The ballast on our basement light burned out this winter.  It was replaced under warranty but in the meantime most of the overwintered plants didn't fare well including a poor fuchsia.  Since the hummingbirds love them so much, we sprung for a new one.  The buds look like little lanterns.

Centaurea montana has been blooming for several weeks.  We're enjoying the last few blooms, and so are the bees.

'Happy Returns' daylilies generally start blooming here in June.  Some summers they go nonstop until October.  Other years they rest a few weeks between bloom periods.

Salvia nemorosa 'Blue Hill' is another long-blooming perennial here.  Last year they bloomed all summer. Aside from it's long bloom and attractiveness to pollinators, it has among the cleanest foliage I've seen on a salvia. 

Some years heavy rains have rotted Rieger begonias.  Not this year.  Rain has been far too scarce.

Heuchera x villosa 'Mocha'  has become a favorite of the coral bells we grow here.  The photo doesn't do justice to its large, rich, coffee-colored foliage.  This heuchera blooms all summer.  Even when the bunnies eat the bloom spikes I don't fret, since there will always be more.  The flower spikes are really pretty in cut flower arrangements, and they glow in morning sunlight in the garden.

Geranium 'Rozanne' is another long-blooming perennial, even with very little sun.  It gets dappled sunlight here a few hours a day, but still manages to bloom from June through the first hard frost.

Overwintered Dragon Wing begonias didn't fare well after the ballast for the basement light burned out, so we sprung for new ones.  They're a container staple here in our shady conditions.  They're so easy care, and bloom beautifully all summer.

Two  pelargoniums in this pot survived the ballast debacle and are starting to bloom.  Besides the two pelargoniums (commonly called geraniums,) basement survivors, this pot has a few cell pak impatiens, some ivy, purple fountain grass, a couple of orphaned celosias given to me by my favorite local nursery since their cell-pak mates were dead, and a couple of 'Crystal Palace Gem' pelargoniums.  'Crystal Palace Gem' is a cultivar that's been around since the 1800's.  They have great chartreuse foliage that's so pretty, who cares whether they bloom.

A stem on Asclepias purpurascens suddenly wilted inexplicably, so it was cut back.  The flower head came indoors to be enjoyed, along with a few sprigs of curly parsley.

March was uncharacteristically warm here. The heat jump-started many perennials, and we've had a lot of early bloomers. None have been so early though, as this sedum, 'Matrona,' budding several weeks earlier than usual. 

To see more June blooms from gardens around the country and around the world, please visit the host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Carol at May Dreams Gardens.