Summer!

 As spring makes its exit for the year, the garden is finally rebounding. It feels like a May garden still, but signs of summer tease me. The lack of May and June rain feels like summer, no tease there, but to be fair the temperatures have been kind the past few weeks, a gentle transition to summer much like the ones I remember from years past. That has helped reduce the watering chores and has been a very pleasant set up for working in the garden, which we have done, feverishly, as if we have a year's worth of fixing and clean-up to catch up on. I suppose we do.

With spring chores transitioning into summer vegetable garden chores, it's a perfect opportunity to photograph the garden while it is fresh and certainly on its way to hotter temps as the weeks roll along.

The outer edge of the labyrinth garden shows signs of color for tall spiky things such as Eremurus bungei and Dierama dracomontana. In the background Heuchera 'Firefly' and 'Northern Fire' continue to bloom, going easily into their sixth week of flowering.

Dianthus deltoides 'Flashing Lights' is so good. Very tiny flowers float atop short wiry stems over an evergreen mat of fine, dark green foliage.

My favorite and only "red hot poker", Kniphofia thomsonii rises above foliage in the meadow garden.

A wider shot, mixed in with fading blooms of Sidalcea campestris.

Linum lewisii, blue flax, floats on two foot or so high wiry stems. It seeds about in the gravel garden so it's always a surprise where it shows up.

Clematis 'Elegant Rhythm' is a Joy Creek introduction and even more special because it was a gift from Mike, owner of the nursery.

Hebe 'Sutherlandii' blooming next to Carex flacca and a variety of low-growing perennials.

Sibbaldiopsis tridentata is a low-growing evergreen plant I would use as a small-scale groundcover. It has white flowers blooming now and its winter foliage tends towards reds and golds.

Erigeron speciosus is a native perennial I recently picked up at Xera Plants, which has a great selection of natives, by the way. It is much taller than other erigerons I have and reminds me of asters, although its petals are markedly different. A nice addition to the garden, indeed.

Looking west towards the gravel and labyrinth gardens.

Plum-colored leaves of Cotinus 'Grace' with pink flowers of Spiraea 'Dart's Red' in the background picking up the pink tones of the cotinus. 

The area on the west side of our deck has been hard hit these past two years. Luckily Callistemon viridiflorus has filled in adding a citrine glow. A replacement Atriplex halimus is slowly but steadily growing to fill in where the original was lost to bad weather and moles. The new plant is planted with more gravel and on a better slope than the original to hopefully aid in its longevity.

Moving down to the southern edge of the property some hot colors are just coming into bloom including Dianthus 'Flashing Lights' pictured earlier.

Diplacus aurantiacus 'Jeff's Tangerine' is on fire this year! So lovely that I took many cuttings to have it all over the place.

Penstemon pinifolius mingles with flowers of Sedum album in a hot and dry site.

Hebe buxifolia blooming in the labyrinth garden with Miscanthus 'Cabaret' and Cotinus 'Pink Champagne' behind it.

I do have several white astilbes that look great for a while. Until summer heat sets in, that is. If I keep them irrigated they look fine but that doesn't always happen.

Hebe 'Wingletye' just beginning to bloom.

  Eriogonum heracleoides - a native buckwheat - is an evergreen sub-shrub at the edge of the driest, hottest part of our garden.

A second buckwheat, this is E. compositum I totally forgot I had planted in the early days of the garden. It was in the shade of a ceanothus that was removed when it died last year. Surprise of surprises, this popped up out of nowhere, now having adequate sun and air. Tough little plant, I'd say.

Rosa glauca mingled among Solidago 'Fireworks'. In autumn this is one of my favorite vignettes with abundant red rose hips and warm yellow flowers of goldenrod, a definite late-bloomer favored by bees.

Cistus ladanifer v. petiolaris 'Bennett's White' - such huge flowers! A small shrub now, it will eventually reach 3 - 5 feet in height. Cistus are great for hot dry sites and mineral soil with minimal summer water. In my garden, they have been water-logged in cold wet clay in our never ending winters that have lasted into May - but if sited in well-draining areas they do much better. 

Stipa barbata right before its flowers get puffy.

Another Stipa barbata tucked into the labyrinth garden in full sun.

Penstemon 'Rich Ruby' is a tough perennial at the edge of my meadow garden. I enjoy watching bumble bees squeeze to fit into these.

This little vignette is where a Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys' once was, having died last year and been removed. The Rosa 'Mutabilis', Heuchera americana 'Red Leaf Form' and others are not complaining about the extra light and air. Sometimes change is good. The heuchera has been blooming for two solid months, by the way.

Checker mallow, this is Sidalcea hirtipes, a later blooming species than S. campestris I have featured here many times in the past. The latter is finished blooming while this is just beginning.

While it may look like dull ol' shrubs, I love this combination of warm yellow of Spiraea thunbergii 'Ogon', Miscanthus 'Little Zebra' and deep purple of Physocarpus 'Diabolo'. The contrasting colors at the edge of the western woodland make it light up from a distance.

Philadelphus lewisii branch gracefully sweeping downward. This native mock orange is so deliciously scented right now.

The corner of the orchard. The grass is allowed to grow tall in the orchard through summer.

Just a bit of the garden with greens, blues and silvers.

Lastly the potato box! FM built this last summer to grow potatoes in and I'd say he's pretty successful. He is from Idaho, after all, so I'd expect nothing less.

We're just getting into flower floozie mode which I'm quite ready for this year. The damage and "fixing" of areas is nearly complete (for now) so it's time to sit back and enjoy the pretty bits. Flowers, I'm looking at you. Bring it on. Summer's here, after all. So I am told.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. Thank you for reading and commenting, you guys are my people and you light up my life. Thank you for being there!

Happy summer, happy gardening, happy Juneteenth!