A WORRY-LESS GARDEN...

"June is bustin' out all over

All over the meadow and the hill

Buds're bustin' outa bushes

And the rompin' river pushes

Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside the mill.

June is bustin' out all over
The feelin' is gettin' so intense
That the young Virginia creepers
Have been huggin' the bejeepers
Outta' all the mornin' glories on the fence!"

Carousel, 1945

Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein ll

It will be a little while longer

 before summer

 makes itself known on the calendar page,

 but she is certainly making herself known 

in real time just now.  

If all this heat keeps up 

we are in for a most miserable time. 

 I do love summer, and it is supposed to be hot,

 but it really could back off somewhat in my opinion.

  We had such a dry winter and spring 

and that will make for a lot of time watering. 

 Already, we have automatic sprinklers

 coming on every morning 

and are still having to water by hand 

before the afternoon is over. 

 This is the time that I am thankful 

for being in charge of a 

worry-less garden.

Our old-school summer phlox

is coming on strong, 

It didn't do very well last summer

 and we thought that maybe it was

 starting to bloom itself out

 (after all, 123 years or thereabouts, is a long time). 

 Here it is this summer as boisterous as ever.

  There is no color yet 

but come July/August 

it will seem that clouds

 have fallen from the sky. 

We planted a mandevilla vine

 which is the prettiest, brightest, deepest red. 

 Hopefully, it will make its way up

 and twine around the arch way. 

 If it does, it will make quite a showing.

  If it doesn't we will try something else.

The barrels 

awaiting our old standbys, zinnias, 

are already pushing the coreopsis out 

and a few little orange nasturtiums

 peeking out over the edge.

  Hopefully, this weekend the zinnias will go in.

Last year 

this little lavender looked the worse for wear, 

but now it appears that it is 

healthy once again.

In the evenings, before we go to bed, 

we divide our time evenly,

 sitting on the porches with the

 scent of the star jasmine in the air. 

 As it starts to cool off at the end of the day 

we get the scent from every side of the Cottage, 

such as the one, above, 

over the gazebo in the Secret Garden...

...or as it twines around 

the spindles of the 

dining room porch...

...and as it sits in the shade

 of the crepe myrtle tree.

It even looks and smells beautiful in the parlor,

 but does not last long as a cut flower.

The valerian is winding down 

all along the outside of our fence...

...as it is on the inside...

...but it still offers some shade

 for a little to relax under 

and soon it will get cut back

 and bloom again before the summer is over.

 Every year

 the valerian makes its presence known 

in another part of the garden, 

just the way I like it.

We still have a lot to do to put the garden in tip top shape, 

but it will get done by and by. 

 No worries.

Sometimes there are worries though

 and when that happens just go faux.

Katie from  Let's Add Sprinkles 

shared a beautiful hosta that she had received awhile ago 

and I thought it looked so pretty on her porch 

so I ordered one here

  I wanted something green

 on this end of the screened porch

 and didn't want the added worry of keeping it watered 

so this seemed the perfect solution. 

 I read, and Katie said, that there were six.

 I thought it meant that there was one stalk

 with six stems coming off of it.  

No, there were actually six stalks. 

 What I have in the tin wash tub here is only 4 stalks. 

 I had a real hosta in a barrel under the gazebo that died 

so I stuck the extra two stalks in there.  

Don't know how it will fare with sun hitting it sometimes

 but we shall see 

and I do like what it looks like

 filling in that back corner...

...and while we are in the Secret Garden...

...a lovely little house has

 become available for rent

 in the neighborhood. 

Making room for

 a new family of fairies

 to move in.

I hope you are enjoying

 the way that June is bustin' out

 in your gardens, 

I have seen a lot of them

 and they are beautiful.

The Chinese Lanterns 

are setting buds now and really filling in taking over

 as we were warned.

  But that is how we do things around here 

and what a scene we will have

 come autumn.

A worry-less garden

 may not be for everyone,

as it is bustin' out of its seams,

 but for us

 it does just fine.

A Happy Week to everyone, 

and I hope that June 

is hugging the bejeepers out of you 

with all its glory.

...Judy...

 

Sharing today with:

Love Your Creativity at Life and Linda

Keep In Touch at Let's Add Sprinkles