June 2018 Garden

"Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June."

Al Bernstein

June is always the most wonderful time of the year. In the perennial flowerbeds, almost everything has broken ground. The heat and bugs haven't had a chance to do their black magic and the plants and flowers are pristine.

This discount store Clematis has finally taken off. 

Japanese Iris is an amazing color blue.

Lupine! I'm so thrilled to be growing it.

This Peony plant was so full of blooms that they were drooping to the ground before I staked them.

                             

Old faithful Coreopsis blooms for a good 6 weeks and will get a 2nd flush if I cut them back.

Sweet William was one of the first perennials I was introduced to as a child and I still love it.

Very pale blue Columbine.

There are only a few Painted Daisies in the garden. I love them and need more.

Foxglove is another favorite.

I'm finally growing Baptisia...

This dark pink Peony blooms a little later than the others.

I love this Lowe's markdown rescue plant. It's a new cultivar of Veronica.

Tiny blooms of the Heuchera are garden energizer bunnies. They bloom almost all summer.

There's not much more beautiful than a rose!

Evening Primrose grows low and is a great filler plant.

Veronica in the background and Catchfly or Silene in the front.

Annuals aren't my favorite but they do have their place filling in nicely.

Woodland Phlox blooms really early.

This culitvar Yarrow is the only one that's survived my casual gardening.

Feverfew that I originally got many, many years ago from a neighbor of my sister when she lived in Maine. My 40 something year old kids really were kids then!

Siberian Iris

  

Rose Campion and Wild Geranium.

Spiderwort in back and Rose and White Campion in forefront.

Black-eyed Susan's are starting to bloom and will bloom through fall.

White and Rose Campion blowing my mind with the beauty.

Gaillardia begins blooming in June, as well.

Butterfly Weed

 

A beautiful red Rose. The plant was a gift from my daughter, Allison.

A lovely mix of perennails with Lupine in the front,

Irish Eyes! One of my favorite daisies.

Lots of blooms all around the old garden chair

Beautiful pale Pink Astillbe.

Last and certainly not least, Idgie or tabby cat cleaning her paws. 

Wow! I posted a lot of pictures here. How could I not? June was such a wonderful month in the garden.

Raising Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterflies

May the wings of a butterfly kiss the sun

And find your shoulder to light on,

To bring you luck, happiness and riches

Today, tomorrow and beyond.

Irish Blessing

In late July, I went out to the garden to get some parsley and got quite a delightful surprise.There were 10 Eastern Black Swallowtail (EBS) Butterfly cats on the parsley. A while before, I'd joined a butterfly page on Facebook and was planning to raise Monarchs if I could find any. 

Because butterfly caterpillars are so yummy, by the time I got a container and managed to bring them in the house, there were 7 left and it was the same day. 

 
Why bring butterfly eggs and cats inside and raise them(on your dining room table)? The reason is because it increases their chance of survival a lot. Most of them are eaten by predators and the continued use of poisons on lawns and gardens is killing them, as well. It's important to be sure the host plants are free of pesticides and herbicides. I know a couple of people who lost cats because of poisoned plants.

When ready to lay eggs, the female butterfly looks for a host plant to lay eggs on. In the case of EBS, there are several hosts, parsley, Queen Anne's Lace and fennel to name a few. Because EBS and any other caterpillars are voracious little eaters, it wasn't long before we were running out of parsley. So late in the season, I was lucky to find 6 plants at a local nursery. When they found out what I was getting it for, they gave me a good discount.

The little buggers eat and poop, eat and poop and just when you think they can't get any bigger, they get sluggish and the next thing you know, they start to hang in a "J" formation and become a chrysalis.I thought, for sure, I had a picture of them in chrysalis but, no....sorry.
EBS cats are unpredictable. They can emerge in 2 weeks or 6 weeks! The ones I had emerged in a little over two weeks.

They emerge so fast I didn't get pics but, this guy is drying out.

After around 2 hours they can be released. You'll know because they start moving around.

I can't think of anything more perfect and beautiful on God's green earth than a newly emerged butterfly. The colors are so vibrant.

That's it, I'm hooked! 

A fairly new hobby. Soap making.

For the past couple of years I've been making my own soap. It's something I've wanted to do for years but was always talked out of it by people who are afraid of lye. Grant it, you have to have respect for it. It's nasty stuff. But, if you take the precautions needed when handling it, you'll be fine.

                                  

The above three pictures are of soap I'm going to be selling. I love maps and have many of them so I'm using them to wrap some of the soaps.

Here is the soap from the first recipe I ever tried. It's 100% Olive Oil soap which is also called Castile soap. It's very gentle and great for babies or people with dry irritated skin. This soap takes a year to cure.

Lavender soap, some with Lavender buds others without. This batch was made last week and will take another month to cure or be hard enough to sell.

I used Safflower Oil with this recipe for oatmeal soap and love the results. It's still curing but I made some smaller bars that are usable and it's silky and bubbly.....can't wait to get feedback on it.

Last but not least, here's my mess! I store the soap supplies in the laundry room. I'm hoping to have wall cabinets by the first of next year to put the supplies in.
At some point, I'll go through the whole process of soap making.

God bless you and keep keeping on!
Sally

There's a little life left in the garden.

“You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” —Walter Hagen

Autumn is flying by and my flowerbeds are fading but, there's still beauty to be found.

Hydrangea has been especially lovely this year.

Impatiens have surprised me with their longevity.

A lone Spiderwort, also called Widows Tears is blooming.

This yellow Rose has bloomed off and on all summer and into the fall.

Little Joe-Pye-weed is well loved by pollinators.

Sweet William

Asters in bloom

Begonia 

Unnamed annual that I'd like to gather seeds from. It's very pretty.

A succulent that blooms just when the garden needs some color.

Wild Asters

Another Wild Aster

Sedum or Stonecrop

Russian Sage

Lovely wild flower that looks like veils from a distance

American Beauty Berry is full of fruit.

Campion seed pods with a Rose Campion in the background

Catmint is having a second flush all around the garden

A few "Susan's" here and there

Marigolds going strong

Yellow Zinnia

White Zinnia

Calendula

Last of the Lobelia

Wild Yarrow or Sneezewort

Sage in second bloom

If the weather holds up, thee will be more Hibiscus

Morning Glories

A couple of Wild Geranium blooms 

Butterfly Bush still in bloom

The Autumn garden is a place full of hustle and bustle. There are many kinds of pollintators getting ready for their winter sleep who are tanking up. Seeds are everywhere, ripe for the picking. I'm hoping to grow a few plants from seed next year.

Here's to a Happy Autumn for all!