Mid June Garden Update

 Time for another update on what's going on in the garden right now. I missed the entire peony show because of my trip to London, but hopefully I will get some pics from my sis who was dog and cat sitting for me.

I did catch the early peonies, which were actually transplants from my back yard, where these guys were not flowering all that well because of the lack of sun light.

Technically, these bloomed late May and were gone by mid-June. I was glad that the transplant took, considering the cavalier fashion in which I handled it. Most books will advise you to transplant after the first frost in the Fall. I transplanted in the Spring. A little late-ish. I accidentally chopped the root of the peony which basically snapped in two. I took this opportunity to plant one on either side of the bird bath in the front yard. Finally an opportunity to create some symmetry in the front yard.

Elephant Ears

I thought I had killed my elephant ears by planting them in early May when the weather was not yet warm enough. But, looks like they are ok. One has even got a nice looking leaf in the making, although the others look a bit weird!

The little yellow flowers tucked under the large spreading juniper was going strong as well. Someday, I believe that I will complete my demolition of the raised bed in the front yard and rescue this little yellow thing from oblivion.

I did manage to catch a quick look at the irises in the front yard before I left. This is the first time I am actually seeing the all purple flowers. The deer/groundhog/hares/something else was eating these plants to the ground the last two or three years (ever since I planted the bare root irises).

Here is a quick look at the main garden in the front yard.

The hibiscus on either side of the bird bath are filling out, the big disappointment are the lavenders that  

I had planted in a row in the front. Two of them died creating a vacuum where there shouldn't be one and the two that did survive, had a strange kind of damage. The parts that were closer to the roots were brown and seemingly dead, but the outer parts of the same branch were doing fine! They have even made flowers, attracting butterflies, but they look like ground cover. I don't think I am going to get the neat, even sized mounds, I was hoping for, from the these plants.

The lavender looks more like ground cover now!

Meanwhile, in the backyard the lilies are looking striking against the white wall although the delphinium looks rather faded.

These lilies were hurriedly transplanted to various locations in the backyard two years ago because they were getting decimated by the deer! However, I seemed to have missed one or two bulbs in the front yard and now they stick out like errant strands of hair on a bad hair day! May be I will use these as a source for cut flowers.

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