June Garden Tour

 Happy June folks! It's officially summer now, and it sure feels like it. We're already having temps near 100, and in drought conditions. It seems too early to be begging for rain, but that we are. Even now, there are storms all around us, but they miss us time and time again. I'm getting to be an expert at the garden hose rodeo. I usually choose drought tolerant plants, but containers always dry out quickly anyway. Not to mention,  I usually have a variety of seedlings and new plants that need to be kept moist until well established. 

But there's another reason why I'm being so vigilant with my watering. Tomorrow, the garden club is coming for a tour! I'm excited, and I've been prepping for weeks, months even. These are my friends coming, so there's nothing to fear in them seeing the place as is. But I still like everything to be just so. Just think, you're getting the sneak preview right here!

Watering is just one of the many steps to keep everything perfect. It's funny though, it's far from perfect out there. It's already that time of the summer when diseases and insects start challenging me. Trust me, I often lose the challenge. It's all part of the gardening experience. 

If I had kept the tour date in early June as originally planned, they would have seen the roses looking more like this. Instead, most of them are temporarily out of bloom. Oh well, there are other sights to see. 

I'm still a little light on butterfly sightings. I did see a single monarch, and that gives me hope for more. It enjoyed the milkweed blossoms, but didn't leave me any eggs. I showing you a picture of the milkweed patch in full bloom, in hope that you could imagine just how beautiful it smells. It's my favorite scented flowers on earth, a combination of vanilla, lilac, and honey. Mmmmm! The caterpillar you see below is a swallowtail, a butterfly I haven't seen yet this year. But obviously one was here! 

The aforementioned containers are looking MUCH better than when I planted them. I'm so pleased with how they turned out this year. My color theme of salmon, peach, and orange was a bold change, but I'm very happy I did it. It was challenging to find selections to fit the theme, but so worth it. Yes, that's a big purple Night Sky petunia in one photo. It's a must have for me, no matter what the color theme is. But there's one container that was less than successful. I tried growing sweet peas for the first time, since people often rave over them. You can see them below, with the bamboo stakes. That's about as good as they ever looked, and quickly faded after this. I won't bother trying them again, I was disappointed. 

I'm the main gardener here, but because hubby works from home, he likes to manage the vegetable garden. I plan it out for him, and he takes it from there. We've already finished up radishes, spinach, and sugar snap peas. We're still using the lettuce, and peppers and zucchini are starting up. Still waiting for tomatoes, beans, carrots, cucumbers, and corn. If you're wondering why there are photos of flowers in this section, it's because those are the veggie garden flowers. I use marigolds as bug repellant, which may or may not be an old wive's tale, but they do jazz up the place. And the zinnias I grow with the vegetables are considered my cutting garden. Cut and Come again zinnias put out more blooms the more you cut them, so they're a good choice for cutting. But once I started this little cutting garden area, I discovered that these particular zinnias attract every butterfly in town. Bonus! 

As usual, I'll end with a few sunsets. May sunsets were a non events, but suddenly, in June, they were fabulous! Thanks for stopping by my blog for my June Garden Tour. And wish me luck tomorrow for the real thing!