Soft Colors, Sweet Mood: GBBD, June 2024
June, when the early summer display features soft colors of pink, blue and violet that create a sweet mood, is one of my favorite times in the garden. The flowers currently in bloom include some that are white (like Tradescantia virginiana ‘Danielle,’ Iris sibirica ‘White Swirl’ and several varieties of peonies). Others are almost white, but are touched with a hint of color, like the barely blue flowers of Amsonia tabernaemontana, the blossoms of Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) ‘Hoffman’s Pink,’ and the barely pink blooms of Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo.’
Other blooms are more definitively colored, like the lavender balls of Allium x ‘Globemaster,’ the pink spires of Heuchera x ‘Raspberry Regal,’ pink peonies like ‘Monsieur Jules Elie,’ the chartreuse flowers of Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), and all the blue flowers of Siberian irises, Tradescantia virginiana, Baptisia australis, and Geranium x ‘Brookside’.
A few flowers here and there, like Geranium sanguineum and rose ‘Hansa’ are blooming in hot magenta hues.
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For me, one of the delights of the early summer garden is all the varieties of Geranium (also known as cranesbill) in bloom. Several of my flower beds are currently edged with the frothy flowers of the groundcover Geranium x cantabrigiense. I have this in both the pink-tinged ‘Biokovo’ and a much more strongly colored cultivar, ‘Karmina’ These flowers put on a big show in early summer and are then done for the year (although their foliage remains attractive throughout the garden season). Geranium sanguineum also blooms in early summer only.
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Other geraniums that begin to bloom in June are long-blooming perennials that will continue to flower through the summer. These include Geranium x oxonianum, a fertile hybrid that happily seeds itself around in the garden, and the blue cultivars Geranium x ‘Brookside’ and Geranium x ‘Rozanne.’ These all grow long floriferous arms that drape themselves over other plants in a charming mingling of flowers.
With so many flowers in bloom, the garden is also alive with pollinators. These include several species of butterflies, a hummingbird who visits daily to feed from the spikes of Heuchera x ‘Raspberry Regal,’ and several species of bees. The bumblebees visiting the flowers of geranium ‘Biokovo’ are so enormous that the flowers bend down to the ground under their weight.
The blooms of early summer arrived especially early this year. The peonies began to open during the first week of June, the earliest I ever remember them doing so. In mid-June, Siberian irises are already well past their peak, although a few are still in flower. But even as the flowers of early summer bloom and fade, I am seeing more and more buds each day on the daylilies (Hemerocallis) which are the iconic flowers of high summer in my garden.
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is a monthly celebration of flowers hosted by Carol Michel at May Dreams Gardens. Visit her website to see the glories of June in many gardens.
Jean's Garden 
White mountain laurel and spiderwort are rad! I have seen white mountain laurel, but not in many years. No one here knows what it is, so it is not marketable enough to grow. I have seen spiderwort only once, and someone who recognized it eliminated it immediately. It bloomed blue. I see it bloom white only in pictures, and because it supposedly has potential to naturalize, I will never grow it.
Although my own garden is punctuated with strong colors, I love those soft colors. The peonies, allium, and Siberian iris are particularly beautiful.
Wonderful tour of your June garden!
Hi Jean, I’m fixated on your Baptisia Australis, which is advertised here as borderline hardy and needs well drained soil, full sun (just generally difficult to keep alive). It’s this that has stopped me from planting it in our wet climate (with frosts and sometimes snow), how does it survive your Maine winters!