AROUND THE GARDEN, RANDOM JUNE TASKS AND EVENTS

It’s just about lily season around here, and with this amazing lack of lily beetle, the lilies are looking fine, with no damaged foliage or buds, tall, healthy stems and a high quantity of buds – it should be another epic year for the true lilies. These pink beauties are my mystery lilies – I bought them on sale ( yes, I do that too, don’t you?). They were in unmarked bags at a nursery near Boston, already all stretched out as they started to grow a few months early indoors. Last year I had them in a container, but last autumn, I transplanted them into the garden in front of the greenhouse.

 In just one year, they have divided, even producing a few offsets which had single flowers on them. They are down facing lilies, which are a particular favorite, but I am uncertain whether they are Oriental lilies or a cross ( I am guessing that they are a cross between a trumpet and an Oriental, commonly known as Orienpet’s.). They lack any fragrance, which is ashamed, but other than that, they are rather perfect, even the color, which is a shade of pink that my friend Jess calls ‘Meat’ ( maybe imported Ham?) actually looks nice in the garden, but it is usually a color I never choose when picking out lily bulbs in the autumn.

ONE OF THE BABY BUNNIES WHO TEASE THE DOGS EVERY DAY, SO CUTE, AND THEY WOULD’NT DARE STEP PAST THE FENCE INTO THE MORE ORNAMENTAL GARDEN WHERE THE DOGS HAVE ACCESS, WHICH IS FINE WITH ME.

DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS ‘CHABAUD GIANTS’ JUST SET OUT FOR THE SUMMER.

A new gate was installed this weekend ( I even painted it late at night, before a party we hosted on Saturday).

Joe built a new gate this week ( Lydia, our female Irish Terrier tore the other one apart over some baby bunnies – see above). I am so happy that I found some vertical and horizontal wooded lathe board at Home Depot – something I’ve been searching for, for about 2 decades. This is a low cost solution for a nice looking fence, especially when painted a nice dark slate color, as above. The plastic or vinyl lathe is horrid ( and white), so paint does not hold well. We bought 20 panels, with the ambitious hope of installing a new fence along the dog yard by the end of summer.

The espaliered apples have set a nice crop of fruit this year. No sign of rust yet, which is a good sign. I am holding off on the summer pruning until later in July.

The citron ‘Etrog’ have set their fruit, probably with some help from the honey bees. These citron live in big, clay pots which spend the winter in the greenhouse. It’s hard to imagine that this tiny, baby fruit will grow to be nearly a foot long.

The Meyer Lemons are loaded with flowers. I will have to thin some of the fruit out, so that there won’t be too much per branch, but that’s OK. It promises an excellent winter in the greenhouse for fresh lemons.

Other lilies are blooming now too, such as these very old Lilium regale, so, so fragrant – the porch door needs to be closed late at night, just to keep the intoxicating fragrance isolated from the kitchen.

Containers are starting to take off, with all of the rain and warmth. Well, it’s been cool around here, so maybe it’s just the rain! The jagged saw-like foliage of this Melianthus major, which survived our cold winter in the greenhouse – dormant underground in its pot, are emerging quickly and really beginning to tower over the other containers.

Daphne berries are poisonous, so I carefully fence off shrubs, such as this Daphne mezereum ‘alba’ which has tempting yellow berries ( the pink flowered form has red berries). These will soon drop, and germinate next spring near the base of the plant – a curious parenting trick, which allows me to dig and transplant dozens of this winter blooming shrub for other places around the garden every year.

In the vegetable garden, garlic scales have been removed from the heirloom garlic plants, to not only allow the plants to focus on forming larger bulbs, but they will make great pickles in the kitchen.

The Cuphea viscosissima is doing so well ( finally! After three tries, I think I am finally able to grow some of this fine, purple flowered annual). I am not sure if I should pinch it or not, so I am pinching half of the plants. These are growing near our new gravel walk, so I really want well branched plants, so that they are less likely to tumble into the walk.

I ordered this raised bed from Gardener’s Supply in Vermont ( they are not a sponsor – this is purely my own venture – so free shout out to them!). I love the quality. Cedar, deep and ten feet long ( or eight, not sure now!). Still, it’s massive, and the peppers seem to love it. Hey, I’m in my 50’s now, and just starting to think about bending over less and less! I want more of these!

In a couple of weeks, most of the garden lilies will be in bloom. This yellow, out-facing  Asiatic is just about ready to pop open. Summer is really here – -really. I think any chance of snow is nearly over!