June in the Garden

Greetings from Chickadee Gardens. June is here, the sun is out and flowers are blooming. We held an open garden for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon; thank you to everyone who came out last weekend! We had a good time but boy are we exhausted. I'm taking the easy route this week and once again letting the photos do most of the talking.

First up, I thought a few shots of different garden beds would give an idea of how it's looking right now. Pictured above are Teucriumm chamaedrys or germander that line a path in a dry border. The catmint or Nepeta sp. blooming behind it was so electric in this combination, I had to show it.

Isn't that lovely? Cotinus 'Pink Champagne' behind it.

Sisyrinchium sriatum stands tall and takes the stage this time of year at the edge of the labyrinth garden with its yellow-white flowers and iris-like strappy foliage at the base. It's a seeder, so be warned, although I haven't had abundant seeding yet.

The thyme carpet has filled in nicely in this, its third year. Thymus 'Pink Ripple' will soon be in full bloom and literally covered with bees.

General view of the gravel garden from the fire pit. To the left is a Salvia o. 'Purpurea' which is fine, but I had another right behind it that up and died. In a day or two. Mysterious things, those salvias.

Also in the labyrinth garden, Dianthus 'Frostfire' is going strong.

The Tetrapanax papyrifer has grown a few feet this year. Oye! I have many off-shoots coming up around it, too. But that's great as I have room for it, thankfully.

Eriophyllum lanatum, Oregon sunshine, is so bright you need sunglasses as one of our open garden guests pointed out (Bruce...that's you!). He is right.

At the edge of the meadow Nassella tenuissima or Mexican feather grass blows in the wind.

ROSES

When thinking about collections of plants, I was counting my roses because, well, I'm not a rose person per se. What I do have are species roses which are generally tougher and more disease resistant than many of the fancy hybrids. This is good ol' Rosa glauca in the labyrinth garden, a spot that is very dry and this does very well and is about 8' tall right now.

A gift from fellow blogger Ricki of Sprig to Twig is this gorgeous Rosa moyesii that has wonderful hips later on.

Anna of the blog Flutter and Hum gifted me this rose, Rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis' which is also gorgeous in varying shades of pink to sunset oranges.

One of the many native roses here on the property, I know not which one this is but their petite flowers and rose hips blend in with their woodland partners quite well.

Rosa rugosa 'Blanc de Coubert' hasn't really taken off yet but it's in a tough spot. It did bloom beautifully this year, though. A few others I have but forgot to photograph are Rosa foliosa which has amazing fall color before dropping its leaves and also Rosa pomifera with the biggest rose hips out there, maybe.

INDIVIDUAL PLANTS

And now for a clematis...Clematis x durandii - sheesh, with roses and clems you'd think I was turning into an English border kind of gardener. Nope. This one is actually drought-tolerant according to my boss who is something of an expert. I also read in Beth Chatto's "Drought Resistant Planting" that she grew it in her gravel garden up a Brachyglottis grayi. It's a gorgeous blue, although it comes across as having a little purple in it. It is not a climber, it's an integrifolia form - a cross with C. integrifolia and C. languinosa - and not very large. I copied Beth and planted it next to my brachyglottis.

I have a loose kind of support for it now, the brachyglottis is just out of shot of this photo.

Sweet Deutzia 'Nikko' is planted among woodland plants. I have some 15 of these petite beauties, most planted last fall.

Oenothera 'Sunset Boulevard' has seeded itself here and there, I transplanted some of those seedlings to the edge of the labyrinth where all the hot orange, reds and yellows mostly preside. 

Penstemon heterophyllus 'Electric Blue' has the best blue color.

Amsonia hubrichtii is reaching maturity. I have several of these planted along the edge of a garden bed and in the fall when they turn brilliant yellow, the effect is striking as you see it coming up the driveway.

Sambucus nigra 'Thundercloud' is blooming for the first time for me.

Nepeta 'Walker's Low' is a favorite of both bees and cats.

An unknown lupine, a seedling that showed up.

Another drought-tolerant penstemon, this one is P. pinifolius 'Melon' in a dashing peachy color. A low mounding evergreen shrublet, this plant needs excellent drainage and sunshine.

Diascia 'My Darling Tangerine'

Penstemon heterophyllus 'Blue Springs' has been a wonderful drought-tolerant plant for me, I have several sprinkled throughout the gardens.

Stipa gigantea is doing its thing.

In my "new" pots (gifted to me by my mother) I decided that the empty ones needed a trailer so I chose Euonymus nanus var. turkestanicus.

Here's a cool thing, I have Digitalis lutea in several spots. It has pale lemon-yellow-creamy tiny flowers and is lovely. Well, a few feet from a clump of the yellow ones these showed up with pink lemonade-colored flowers. How sweet! They must have crossed with D. purpurea.

One of the plants is paler pink than the other. Both are charming.

Diascia 'Lucy' for my dear departed Lucy kitty. xoxo

Dianthus deltoides 'Flashing Light' was a rescue from work and I'm glad I did. Wow...this thing is brilliant.

A final parting shot of the Nepeta 'Dropmoore' and its surrounding friends.

There you have it, a brief look at an exhausted gardener's garden after hosting an open garden. I'm sure I missed many interesting things out there, but I'm sure I'll be back at it at 100% soon enough. Heck, on my tour tonight of the garden I am already re-arranging areas in my mind. I must be back at it!

Thank you for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you! Happy gardening!