Ready for my close-up

Even the small things in the garden are lovely.

Self-sowing Lupin

I've got to give credit to the Lupin, they're a self-seeding perennial - the type of flower that's the inspiration for this blog title. We have a few plants in one of our gardens and year after year they move slightly as their seed starts are shifted by the wind. Their purple spikes are striking and the seed pods are a welcome, fuzzy sight.

Looking up a bit of information on them, I didn't realize the beans from the pods can be eaten and were popular throughout the Roman Empire. Good to know.

Another interesting note: Lupins convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonia via their roots. This fertilizes otherwise crappy soil for the plants around them. It also makes them a good companion plant for crops that need nitrogen including cukes, broccoli, squash and spinach.

Climbers

Only one of our three clematis seems to be doing well this year, and it's a bit sad to see the others lag. We cut one back because it had overreached itself and grown a precariously large ball of vines that would probably have ripped off in a big storm. The third, which grows on lattice on the west side of our porch, just doesn't do as well in this location as the ones in the backyard. One of the vagaries of gardening is the odd microzones in your own yard.

It's a quiet period for blooming in the beds. The daisies and black-eyed susans aren't yet ready, and the dwarf lillies and daylillies are just about to get started. Things are very green, and need some serious weeding. Luckily, the gardens are so full of plants, the weeds find it hard to compete.

Welcome to June

Sage plant in bloom.

 I love June. It's so full of promise. At the start of the gardening season, the summer days ahead seem endless. I wish it would stay.

We are a bit behind with the vegetables, we've got about 1/3 of the garden planted but still need to put in beans, beets, and all the seedlings we started inside. This year I'm happy to say we've bought our own tiller. I guess it's a mark of a gardener to be more excited about that than a new car or TV.

The flower gardens are kicking spring off, the irises are lovely right now and the Lady's Mantle and cranesbill geranium are providing delicate color. I could spend all day, maybe all June, wandering the garden. And weeding, of course.