The First Week of June in My Gardens

 We have had  70+ degree days for the past week and everything is coming alive, but I have few flowers at the moment--just the orange poppies I showed already.

My yew hedge has tons of new growth, which means I will be trimming it soon. I don't want it any taller than it is, so I have to cut off all the new growth every year.

Unfortunately my huge pine trees are also having their growth spurt and are releasing yellow pollen.

The deck is full of it - you can't walk on it without leaving footprints.

Updated at 6:00 p.m. 6/7/11 to show you the deck full of pollen:

The whole garden has a dullness due to all the rich green leaves being covered in the yellow dust.  If we could just get a good hard rain, everything would be clean again.

I almost yanked this Guara out last week because I thought it was dead.



A few days ago, I noticed this lush new bottom growth:

I am so glad I gave it a few more days.  Moral of story: Don't yank out plants too soon. Some take longer to appear in the spring than others.

Another plant I love is Lupine.  I never have much luck with Lupine.  Sometimes I get a flower or two, but never a big lush plant with dozens of flower spikes like most of you get.  I noticed this large (for me) plant and went to investigate.

 I am so excited as I see at least five flowers that should be blooming soon.

I have a little herb pot that I keep on the deck, just outside my family room doors.  The chives and tarragon come back every year. I added cinnamon basil and sage this year.  I already cut down the first crop of chives so I could freeze the  tender growth for this winter.

I should cut the flowers off the cinnamon basil, but they are so cute that so far I have not had the heart to do so.  They would be beautiful as a garnish on some dish for entertaining. Unfortunately I have no plans for entertaining in the near future.

I have a separate pot of  mint. It's way too invasive to add to the anything else.  I like it just for garnishes for summer desserts.

I also have a pot of ordinary basil to use for tomato sauce dishes this summer.

I adore having fresh herbs for summer cooking.  I just walk a few steps from my kitchen to the deck and snip a few leaves to add fresh flavor and color to my cooking.

Here is a herb I grow for its foliage and flower, not for cooking. It's Lychnis coronaria, commonly referred to as Rose campion, and is a  biennial with silver foliage and bright magenta  flowers.  I have done a number of posts of this herb. Most years I have quite a bit of it. You can see the flowers in a number of my gardens and read more about it on this post. It readily reseeds, which could be a problem if you have it planted right next to your lawn--like this one:

(It appears I did not cut the seed heads off last year!) You can see the lawn mower has already run over it a few times.  I will have to remove all of these when I get caught up on my other weeding.

And last, but not least, how did this orange poppy get in this garden where I have planted much more refined salmon, white and purple poppies? 

 I must get out there and remove it before it goes to seed!

Right after my little hammock break...I am really enjoying this new addition to my gardens!

Don't forget to visit the other gardens at Jean's Blooming Tuesday.