(Revised 27 Jan 2011)

The ideal month for gardeners here: the widest varieties of plants are at their best (leaves and flowers etc.). The environmental atmosphere is perfect for strolling, and hanging out in the garden. (Although the Ontario weather has a tendency to skip spring occasionally, and went straight from winter-liked temperature into summer-liked temperature.)

Baptisia australis is a ‘must have’ for a garden, if you have a sunny spot. However, it would take a few years to establish a presentable specimen.

June is tall bearded iris time. I don’t particularly like the effort required to keep them around, but I can’t resist their exotic beauties.

A few more tall bearded irises…

(More Iris here)

In the partial shaded corners, Dicentras continued to fill up with their dainty flowers and fern-liked leaves. We would like to acquire almost any varieties of Dicentra that we can lay our hands on.

(More Dicentra here)

Like most gardeners, we love Corydalis. Some of them are hard to please, and some of them are somewhat weedy due to self sowing. (Fortunately, their excess seedlings are easy to remove.)

(More Corydalis here)

The Heucheras remained colourful in June.

(More Heuchera here)

By June Hostas would have a dominant presence in our garden; in the sense that it established a firm framework among all the plants.

(More Hosta here)

Astilbes are indispensable for the more shady part of our garden. Even though I have not taken them seriously, and have been using them mostly as filler plants, some of them have managed to stand out on their own.

(More on Astilbes here)

We do not have many Rhodos that will bloom in June.  This is not accidental, since the temperature is getting hot, and most rhodo flowers will not last long under such condition. ‘Calsap’ appeared to brave the heat reasonably well (most of the time).

The waterlily was blooming away in the irrigation pond. Unfortunately, the cattails are taking over the pond choking off the waterlilies, including the few new ones that I planted a few years ago.

Iris sibirica may not have a wide range of colours and forms, I like its elegant but not showy beauty; flowers and leaves. It is as low maintenance as a perennial will get.

(More Iris sibirica here)

This delicate treasure is borderline hardy here. It survived about three years happily before being destroyed by voles in the spring of 2010.

Many perennials that can be sown from seeds are weedy; not this one. Besides, it is blue.

A few other interesting June perennials…

I have been using lupins as fillers, and kicking them around when I need their space. They really deserve a couple of permanent homes especially when they self sow and take care of themselves (except for the clean up after they finish with their flowers).

This is my favourite tree in June; planted it many years ago hoping to have a tall majestic flowering tree, but it has stayed small.

The edge of a sunny border…

Penstemons appear to be under appreciated in this part of the world. Hopefully it will become more ‘fashionable’ so that more varieties will be available sooner.

With enough varieties grown, we can see clematis flowers starting from May, and through the summer.

(More Clematis here)

Some beds get a little too busy in June. It is still quite pleasant to see how the plants share their space. They look unpretentious to me anyway.

The veronica family needs to be explored more thoroughly (when I ger around to it).

Summer is here…

It was very unfortunate that the vole population exploded in our garden in 2010. They did serious damage to the entire garden. I can only hope that there will be something left in the coming spring.

(Visit July Garden)

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- Bertrand Russell

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