Garden Blogger's Bloom Day June 2009

Before I share my bountiful blooms with you, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting this wonderful event on the 15th of every month.

This last month has just flown right by. I think we once again managed to skip right over spring and bounded headlong into summer. Up until last week my plants continued on their almost nightly plant parade into the garage or under their covers.

I didn't have much of anything blooming last month, do you remember my pathetic turnout of exactly three flowers (not including annuals)? Since then the temps have soared, the heavens have poured out their mighty blessings, and all of my spring flowers have peaked and passed their prime.

I'll show you a brief review before moving on to what's still blooming today.

I brought these sensation lilac suckers with me from my old garden in Big Lake. I am now regretting the decision to only bring two of them with us. These flowers are so beautiful and they smell so sweet. I wonder if the new owners would let me grab a few more if I ever head back over there...

They were tightly closed still when mom was over visiting us, these lilacs just sped right on through their blooming period.


These lovely plants produced more seeds than I knew what to do with for me last year. Somehow the name is slipping my mind right now. Such a busy day with the painting the living room, redecorating and bloom day posting. I guess my mind is pretty slippery sometimes anyway.

One of the four apple trees that we planted last year was in full bloom. I sure hope we get lots of apples out of the deal. We got three more apples trees this year so we'll have a total of 7. Did I ever mention to you that we like apples? When we got them home and planted, they were still in bloom so I grabbed a paint brush and hand pollinated the flowers. I don't think they would have been close enough to leave it up to nature to cross pollinate them, especially since it was so cold.

Our choke cherry tree also has an abundance of blooms on it but apparently I didn't snap a very good picture. I really should get a new camera before we go on vacation. Who knows what I'll miss out on if I keep taking crazy shots. You should see the green fruits beginning to swell up now. Maybe this year I'll get to try to make that choke cherry jelly I wanted to make last year.

As I showed mom around town we got to admiring some lovely trilliums that some friends had. Mom recalled how they always had a bunch of them at her house when she was growing up. I remember admiring them in Grandma's woods when I went to visit her in the spring. We got two small clumps of them and transplanted them to our yard. I'm not sure how they'll do here with so many pine trees hanging around but I sure hope they'll thrive here anyway.

The wild blueberries and strawberries have also managed to slip by without getting their pictures taken too. I can imagine how wonderful they will taste though picked freshly off the bushes. We took a walk in the woods while my mom was here and found all sorts of patches of them all over the place. Just thinking about it is making my stomach rumble!

Now, on to what's still blooming. I didn't get many good pictures because I can't see a blessed thing in my camera's viewfinder. I sure wish digital cameras still had small viewfinders too just in case their cheap LCD screens cracked!

I ordered 25 Ozark Beauty Strawberry plants from a catalog this year. I know I was supposed to pinch off the blooms this year so the roots could grow stronger but I just can't help myself. Am I naughty or what?

The wild blackberries have just begun their show for the season. Many blooms left to unfurl themselves on these plants. Looks like we're going to have a bumper crop if I can keep everything from drying up on us. Who wants some blackberry jam?

These lily of the valley will look wonderful in my new deck garden I'm hoping to start creating tomorrow, won't they? I almost forgot they were here. I need to move my shade garden closer where I can remember to enjoy it a bit more often! The regular bleeding hearts were also blooming now but I only managed to get a picture of it's leaves. SIGH. Stupid camera.

Cheesehead and some friends from work picked out these lovely plants to add to our deck garden landscape too. They are awaiting my final design inspiration and bed preparation before getting settled into their new homes though.

Last, but certainly not least are my pansies. These self seeded themselves last year and and freely growing all over the place. I just adore these plants. They're cute, colorful, hardy, and cheerful. I don't have to worry about 30 degree weather killing them either. I love to look at the variety of faces that pansies have. I have loads of pansies around here, but not having a decent camera makes it difficult for me to capture their charisma and charm so I'll just leave that to someone else for now. In warmer climates these plants are perennials, but here they are treated as annuals because of our extremely cold winters.

I hope everyone has a fantastic bloom day wherever they are in this great big world. Glad you could drop by. Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy