Moving Into Summer: GBBD, June 2013

In many places, mid-June is very clearly summer; but in my Maine garden we are just on the cusp of summer. The garden has not yet reached its full flush of early summer blooms, but it is moving in that direction. Now that cool rain has given way to blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures in the 70s (F), new blooms are joining the summer garden show every day. Among today’s new stars is the first peony of the season.

The real star billing this week, however,  goes to the Siberian irises, which are at the peak of their bloom. These are important plants in my garden, growing in 6 of my 8 flower beds. I have seven different varieties of Iris sibirica in bloom right now, with two more still to come. The main iris show is happening in the Blue and Yellow Border, where blues predominate at this time of year.

In the Iris Bed, where the old-fashioned blue Siberian irises bloom first, they are just about finished; but on the back slope (the last place that this variety blooms), they are in their glory.

But not all my irises are blue.  ‘White Swirl,’ which provides some contrasting color in the Blue and Yellow Border, is blooming more profusely this year than ever before. In the Deck Border, pink irises are just beginning to bloom.  Two of my favorite Siberian irises, now in bloom, are ‘Super Ego’ and ‘Lavender Bounty’.

Other flowers that deserve special notice in the Blue and Yellow Border are the amazingly blue blooms of Linum perenne and the pale yellow inflorescences of Baptisia ‘Carolina Moonlight.’

Another important player in the early summer garden is Tradescantia (spiderwort), which grows in all my flower beds except one. The cultivar ‘Zwannenburg Blue’ opens its flowers first, but it is quickly followed by the blue-violet volunteers and by the other named varieties, all of which have now opened their first flowers.

In the Deck Border, hardy geraniums dominate at this time of year, with Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’ providing a froth of blooms along the walkway. Other geranium cultivars that are currently blooming include Geranium sanguineum and Geranium sanguineum album, Geranium x ‘Brookside’ and Geranium x ‘Patricia.’

Geranium ‘Biokovo’ is also the most visible bloom in the Serenity Garden, now in its second year and beginning to fill in. If you look closely, though, you can find a few other flowers blooming. Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’ which dropped all its blooms in the unusual hot weather here at the end of May, has reconsidered in the cool temperatures of early June and put out a few tentative pink hearts among its chartreuse foliage.

Tiger swallowtail butterflies are very much in evidence these days. They flit among the trees on the edges of the garden and then float down into the garden to nectar on flowers of  Amsonia hubrichtii, Rhododendron catawbiense, Geranium x cantabrigiense and Iris sibirica .

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Visit her blog to see June blooms from gardens around the world.