Beautiful June

June is here and brings with it some of the most beautiful flowers. Peonies, delphiniums, daisies, nepeta, roses, sanguineum, heuchera, clematis, anemone, yarrow, and thyme are all blooming. Lambs ears are going strong too. although I wish those would actually not bloom. Even some of the hosta are starting to bloom, although most won't begin for a while yet. It's a really lush, beautiful time in my garden.

It rained much of the day today, but I got outside for a short while before it started. My mission: prune the lilacs. I have eight lilacs to prune. Last year I had eleven but three - three! - died over the winter.

Lilacs don't really die altogether, they have a sneaky way of mostly dying, and one is left with the hard decision of whether to let them stick around half-dead or to pull them out and start over with something else. Three of mine mostly died this past winter, and I have already dug out one; the other two are just waiting their turns.

Actually, they are waiting for hubby to get around to them, because he more than I does the heavy digging around here.

Anyway, I got out in the yard and did about half of the lilacs. This was really really enjoyable, snipping off the spent flower heads and dead wood. What a simple thing, but it was one of those moments, the cool air with rain coming in, the green bushes vibrant and lush, peace in the yard. Moments like these are one of the great benefits of gardening.

Saint Lou Eee.

Jeff, Ian and I just returned from a long weekend in Saint Louis. We went there to visit friends and did a quick turnaround, drove down on Saturday and came back on Tuesday. We made it to the Arch of course. Jeff and I were there about 8 years ago and took the ride to the top. It's these little yellow bubbles that are totally enclosed with seats for five people, and the door is shut tightly, and it's too small to sit fully upright. It's kind of claustrophobic, but it works.

We went to the top again this weekend, for Ian. We had to buy tickets the first day, and return the second day to actually do it because the wait was long. It was the same ride as before, but Ian liked it, and the view from the top was still spectacular.

Gardening-wise, there are a few things to mention. St Louis had quite a bit of landscaping, and most of it looked exactly like this picture: grass and daylily. Definitely overused. St Louis could use some creativity in the landscaping department and learn about plants other than these.

There were a couple of interesting plants that I found while we were there. One was something that looked like a purple globe thistle that I saw on a weedy boulevard near the new Busch Stadium. It was actually very pretty and I wish I had taken a picture but we were just walking by and I didn't stop. The other plant that looked interesting was a giant tall grass in a parking lot. It must have been 7 feet tall, and would have been fabulous to bring back and plant at the back of our yard to block the 6 foot tall chain link fence the family behind us put up a couple years ago.

Our hotel had a couple of these giant containers out front that had great potential. I always like the super-duper large containers and these were massive. Unfortunately, the hotel had planted them with little bitty annuals that looked ridiculous. These huge containers could be planted with large green leafy plants like big ferns and shrubs and a few tall flowers, and they could have looked grand and imposing. But planted like this, they just kind of looked sad and like they are not living up to their potential.

After mourning the loss of many of my irises, they now seem to be coming back into my life. My friend Beth in St Louis had ordered iris bulbs, though mail order I think, and then realized that she probably will never get them planted in her yard. When we visited her house she gave me this package of irises, each with the name of the variety written on the leaf, and asked me to bring these back to Minnesota and plant them in my garden.

Of course I am honored. The reason that she will not be planting them is that she is very sick, and while she loves flowers, and irises in particular, she doesn't have the energy to plant and care for a garden right now. So I will plant them in my yard, and give them a lot of tlc and extra attention, and hope that they bloom next year so she can see pictures.