Lily ‘Forever Susan’

In June the lilies begin to make their statement for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.  They are exploding around the yard and they provide excellent cutting flowers as well.

Lilium ‘Forever Susan’ inside the house

One of my favorites is in the monument bed

Lilium ‘Netty’s Pride’ group

Lilium ‘Netty’s Pride’

In addition to the lilies another regular for this season is a very extravagant japanese iris

Iris ensata ‘Flashing Koi’

The bletilla continue with their orchid-like flowers.

Bletilla ‘Brigantes’

And nearby is a new Roscoea that we got from Far Reaches this year.

Roscoea purpurea f. alba NAPE 239

We have several clematis that have been trailing on fences and trellis including this one that runs up the sambuccus.

Clematis ‘Krakowiak’

A very long-lasting flower is one of the gentians in the alpine bed.

Gentiana dahurica

Walking in the front yard you discover there are many white flowers on the grass and then you look up in the tree and see the source.

Stewartia japonica

There are many, many flower buds on the tree.

With all the rain that we continue to have it’s not surprising that the green leafy plants are doing well.

Pinellia ‘Polly Spout’

Arisaema farghesii

Arisaema candidissum

In the greenhouse there are multiple habranthus in bloom (they seed around abundantly).

Habranthus robustus

The habranthus are much bigger than their zephyranthus cousins.

We were in the orchard this week bagging apples (basically to ward off insects).  The really odd thing is that we have a much smaller crop than normal because many of the trees flowered last fall in response to our tremendous rainfall.  It turns out that one the few trees to have a few apples worth protecting is our Spitzenburg.  I don’t know if you have tried Spitzenburg but it is one of the best apples ever.  In our case this is the one survivor of a row of Spizenburgs and it is barely hanging on as a tree.

Spitzenburg trunk

Nonetheless the apples on it are looking very nice.

Apple ‘Spitzenburg’

This is usually a tree that is very hard hit by pests.  So it’s very strange to see it outyielding much bigger stronger trees.

By the front of the second pasture is a volunteer adam’s needle that is flowering by its lonesome.

Adam’s Needle (Yucca filamentosa)

And nearby are various meadow plantings of wildflowers that son Josh put in this year. They are prospering.

Wildflower mix

And of course the wildlife are enjoying Josh’s efforts.

Cosmos in wildfire mix