July begins, and the garden blooms

I never cease to be amazed how quickly a garden can change at this time of year.  Two weeks ago, the stars of the show were our Carolina lupine and Viburnum Winterthur. There was color in other places, of course, but the dominant color was green.

On July 2, its a different story. A vast sweep of bright red Monarda has come into bloom, flanked by brilliantly white daisies on one side and Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed) 'Hello Yellow' on the other. All of this occupies one bed of our front garden. In the photo at right, the Carolina lupine, now with flower heads removed, towers over the Monarda.

Only a week ago, there was a long, moderately tall row of bright green vegetation along the north (non-garden side) of our stone driveway. It forms a sort of barrier between our property and 20-foot-wide swath of jungle that belongs to our neighbor (the one who, nine years ago, famously spat out, "Not another one of those f***ing meadows!" when we explained no grass would be forthcoming). Seemingly overnight, there is now a cascade of long-blooming Heliopsis. In coming weeks, other tall perennials will horn in for glory but, on this date, it is the sunflowers that have the stage to themselves,

We value our privacy and, from the front of the street, passers-by get only a peek of what lies beyond.  We left in place a berm and low wall that shields a direct view of our house.  But there's no reason why we can't make that barrier - if it even qualifies as one - interesting, or even educational. Anyone who passes by get to see two cultivars of Physocarpus - better known as ninebark. Betty prefers the darker-leave specimens. Diabolo and Little Devil are still in (minor) bloom. Nearby is our Cercis canadensis (forest pansy redbud) 'Burgundy Hearts'. The ground cover trailing over the wall is bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), which started as 12 quart-sized pots.

At the top of that berm, Ceanothus americanus - New Jersey Tea - is in full bloom. Except during its too-brief bloom (about two weeks), it's something of a wallflower of a shrub... it blends into the background even though it is at the front of the bed.  Ceanothus is a useful shrub in that it thrives in soil other plants would find nutritionally lacking.  

Out in the rear of the garden, the Astible are in bloom along with other, less showy plants. We transplanted one Ligularia 'Othello'; it now has multiple progeny spread across the area. What is terrific, though, is that the strawberry, tiarella, heuchera, and other low perennials now provide a green carpet that accepts light foot traffic without complaint.

What I sometimes still have to pinch myself is that, nine years ago, none of this was here. The photo at left is tagged as having been taken on June 26, 2015.  We (or rather, a contractor) had created an enormous planting bed; ready for Betty's creativity and my muscle.  Less than a decade later, it is truly a garden.