Summer flowers in bloom June 19th 2011

Spring blooms have long faded away into the flowers of summer this week as highs have been in the 70s and 80s most days. This is just in time for the 1st day of Summer which is tomorrow! Peonies, Chives and Roses are all in bloom and are especially beautiful with the abundance of rain we’ve had. The grass has also been growing fast, I’ve also mowed lawn at least 6 or 7 times now!

Old Fashioned Peony June 19th 2011

The Peony above is not in a garden that was redone earlier this Spring. It is a section of a plant that was originally in our front yard, and they have been in our front yard blooming for over 20s years reliably, providing beautiful pink and maroon flowers year after year.

Peonies any known for the very large and very fragrant flowers that typically come into bloom around the 1st day of summer in our area. They are one of the most fragrant flowers of Summer. It’s always a good idea to put peonies in a nice out of the way space in the garden, where they can sit for years because they do not like to be moved, they can even stop flowering for a year or two after they’ve been moved, but I’ve seen peonies bloom the same year moved as well, if they are moved in early Spring. I’ve found it beneficial to rake off old foliage in Spring, and to give them one feeding as the leaves comes in.

Roses June 19th 2011

The old fashioned Roses, that have been in our yard probably the same amount of years are also in bloom this week and smell great! These are the easiest roses to care for, literally plant and go type of plants. Although they need a once and awhile hard early Spring pruning to keep them blooming beautiful. In years I’ve done a hard pruning, they blooming the same summer.

Here is a plant I have not featured on my blog before. It is a perennial geranium that blooms a nice blue color, that is almost lightning blue, they bloom at the same time as peonies. I’ve had this for a couple years now and it’s come back great both times. These can do well in part shade or sun, but they seem to prefer a shadier garden.