Miscellany in the June Garden

Love-in-a-Mist patch from our gardens (above). Start one - you won't regret it.

We've been eating broccoli, Red Russian Kale, mustard greens, Sungold tomatoes, garlic scapes and a small harvest of juneberries from our garden. I returned home from our trip to find that a woodland creature had snibbled away all of my much anticipated 'Endless Wonder' blue hydrangea blossoms and some of the elderberry plants. Round one of the deer foil project has been put into effect. I need to become comfortable with the fact that I will probably be on the losing end of this war.

Watermelon, honeydew melons, zucchini and muskmelons were planted over the weekend. Annnnndddd a bunny has already decimated the muskmelons. *Big sigh of frustration*. All the tomatoes and basil are in - Brandywine, Pink Brandywine, Old German, more Sungolds and another cherry variety. I also just bought a 'Blue Beard' caryopteris, a pale pink rose and more blue speedwell for under our walnut. And I am going to do a very small rock and container garden with petunias and verbena and other sturdy annuals that hopefully won't become bunny fodder.

These long nights send me out to plant, weed and water with a glass of chilled lemoncello to keep me cool. Last night I was out there until 9:20 - with a nice, loopy buzz. I'm not going to lie - I am looking forward to a little more sitting with that lemoncello during the cicada-zzzzzzy, humid nights of July and August and appreciating my garden from the porch.

On a side note: We drove through the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg after a several hours at Amazement Square a few weekends back. The trip also included Corey buying a new work trailer for his truck - which looked mildly creepy and predatory lumbering through a cemetery. But I must get back there to stroll its gardens quietly - and they were selling antique rose cuttings! The ones, I imagine, that have that nostalgic scent I am always looking for . . . the scent of summer.