There are a lot of perennials blooming in June in northern Ohio but taking pictures is a challenge in-between the rain and storms this year. It’s predicted that we have two more weeks of cloudy and rainy days, with some more thunderstorms coming our way, so it will be interesting if the perennials love it or hate it. To me, it’s one of the more exciting months in the cottage garden, rain or not, because I can recognize what survived and find a few surprises that have popped up where I don’t expect them.
I have a love and hate relationship with Deutzia ‘Magicien’ (above as the featured photo), because when I bought it, I swear the tag said it was a dwarf flowering shrub. Well, it’s not, and in my partial shade garden it can get quite gangly and arches all over the other shrubs and grasses in the border, sometimes up to 7-8 feet. It’s mixed in with a Wisteria tree and some Miscanthus sinensis ‘Strictus’ and I noticed it didn’t survive our harsh weather so well, so I have some drastic pruning to do as soon as it quits raining. But those clusters of pink and white blooms take my breath away every year and I let the pair I planted stay all twined up with the other shrubs. It’s not a showstopper the rest of the year, so keeping it tightly woven in with other shrubs works for me and I still get to enjoy the flowers without minding it’s gangly attributes.
A new favorite is Tanacetum parthenium Matricaria ‘Tetra White,’ also known as Feverfew. I placed it in front of my Oat grass which is a lovely shade of bright green in the spring. I’ll have to dig through my gardening journals to find the name of this variety and share more pictures of this lovely oat grass throughout the season. It self seeds but not outrageously so and it doesn’t encroach upon its neighbors aggressively so it’s one of my favorites. The Tanacetum flowers make lovely cut flowers within a bouquet but I love the blue-green softness of the leaves as well. I have it mixed in with Lavender and Sage but so far, the Feverfew has been more resistant to our harsh winters and it’s right out by the sidewalk and street in my garden, getting piles of snow on top of it throughout the winter. Lovely plant that I highly recommend.
An absolute favorite are these Campanula glomeratas. I’m guessing that’s what they are because I inherited them from a woman who lived in my house in the 60s or 70s. One of my gardening neighbors explained that these were brought from this woman’s family’s home in England. They remind me of my great-grandmother, whose lovely cottage garden is my inspiration. Since she moved here from England when she was just a teen, I would guess that these flowers would remind her of home, too. I moved these from another section of my garden because I was getting less and less of them every year. They are very happy in their new home and have increased in numbers in one year from all the seeds sewn naturally last year.
Seeing a Campanula glomerata up close seals the deal for me – they’re one of my old favorites renewed. I allow the seed heads to stay and do their thing naturally but you can dead-head them and this plant will flower more down the stem. Just make sure you toss those dead flowers somewhere that you need some color and you’ll always have a welcome supply of this beauty.
Here’s my little surprise plant that showed up amongst the Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam” that is just about to flower. What do you think this little flowering beauty is? I think I know but has anyone else ever seen one? It’s a very pale yellow, almost white. I love surprises, don’t you?
What’s blooming in your world?
