Wednesday Wandering

Gardens are a lot of work. 

But sometimes I get to stop and smell the roses. 

Despite some early deer and rabbit damage I have to say the roses this year do not disappoint.  

I am so thankful the Japanese Beetles have not been around to eat them either. They have been a terrible pest the last couple of years. 

Each variety of rose in the garden has a different scent. 

I haven't seen this Winchester Cathedral rose in bloom for a long time. Several years ago it was severely damaged when a tree fell on it. Then I babied it and when it started to make a comeback the deer and rabbits ravaged it several years in a row. Then the last couple of years the Japanese beetles have visited in droves and devoured most of my rose buds. I'm an organic gardener so the cure for Japanese beetles is to pick them off by hand and throw them in a bucket of soapy water. 

Winchester Cathedral is supposed to be a shrub rose and this is about the shrubbiest it has been in years. I am so very thankful I have roses to enjoy this year. 

Martagon or Turk's Cap Lilies

I've planted mine in a shady area.

They have a slight fragrance. 

There are several clumps of a miniature Asiatic lily in bloom in the fairy garden. This one is in front of a miniature rose in bloom and next to Edelweiss.

This clump is blooming near the dianthus in bloom. 

How do I know this is a fairy garden? Well, do you see the fairy door and the little pathway leading up to it? 

The Foxglove are really quite nice this year. I started these from seed. The bees dart in and out of the gloves. This Foxglove variety is a biennial and this is their second year so I finally have some blooms to enjoy. I find these very difficult to start from seed that is like dust and have had several failures in the past. I am hoping the Foxglove like where they are and will reseed themselves. 

I love Delphiniums. I used to have a big patch of them mixed with poppies and daisies but they all disappeared after a tree fell on them one winter. Now I'm trying to get a new patch started. The pale yellow flowers are a perennial foxglove.

Blue Tradescantia or Spiderwort and ...

...white Tradescantia.  I recently found a red variety and planted that last week but it does not have blooms yet. 

Dutchman's Pipe in bloom. It is supposed to be a primary food source for the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly.  Dutchman's Pipe vines are rather invasive so I have to work hard to control it as well as the Trumpet Vine on the same trellis. 

On a different trellis Jackmanii Clematis is blooming.

And underneath the Clematis the Yarrow is starting to bloom.

I've been harvesting a bowl of strawberries every day. And every day hubby and I eat a bowl of strawberries. I think now I will freeze the daily pickings. 

We've been eating a lot of radishes and green onions from the garden for lunch every day and in salads. But now that it is getting hot I pulled up the last of the radishes. Some smaller ones I left to go to seed and I will plant those seeds later this year for a fall crop of radishes. 

I have Buttercrunch lettuce I let grow into heads but the darned rabbits (or is it a groundhog) have been eating the leaves and I haven't. I put a little fence around them and now the heads are starting to grow again. Buttercrunch is slower to bold in warm weather, thank goodness. 

Meanwhile we've been eating leaf lettuce from this patch of greens as well as some mustard greens from a different patch. The salad is oh so yummy with a little oil and vinegar dressing mixed with herbs from the herb garden. 

And something has been eating my pea vines down to the ground over and over again so they are pretty short. However, I think I will have some Sugar Snap Peas ready for harvest soon.  I have some Snow Peas on a different fence that are in bloom. 

I am so thankful we finally had a good heavy rain yesterday. The garden is thankful too.