June, So Soon!

How, in heaven's name, did we arrive at the front door of June so soon? It was only the beginning of May, it seemed to me, just yesterday with soaking rains and cool nights that opened to dewy mornings. Where peonies bloomed in dappled sunlight and cornflowers glowed in the breezy afternoons that led to lilacs fluttering in the early dusky evening when the tree frogs and crickets sang their familiar twilight vespers.

Good-by May.  You were such a lovely month this year offering up emerald fields filled with frothy, blooming buttercups that caught my eye on sun-drenched afternoons.  You sneaked right by me in between garden club events, gardening tours and just plain gardening.  Somehow, you slipped through my fingers, perhaps while I was on my knees weeding.  I will miss you, May.

Yet, June looks promising as the first of the lavenders begin to swell and blush slightly in lovely shades of powdery blue to dusty pinks, hinting at their royal purple bloom soon to come.  Each lavender will begin to burst, during June, on it's own time schedule--no one else can tell them when, they just seem to know when it is their time--as it is their job to welcome the honeybees into the summer garden, with their sticky feet and fluttery wings.  Giant Oriental poppies wave like crimson flags signaling landing points for lady bugs and humming birds during the day while lightening bugs shimmer in the grass and rise through the leaf-laden trees and into the warm, clear sky. Ahhhhh, June--you have your own attributes, don't you?

Like May, June is no stranger to beauty in the garden landscape. Roses are at the ready to take the peonies' place as the princesses of the perennial garden borders. Even their prickly branches cannot deter their elegant form and grace. Red to pink to yellow to creamy white, roses are amenable to every other flower in the garden, warm and welcoming so much so that bugs and other garden pests cannot resist them either, so enjoy them in this warm and humid Virginia weather while they last.  Even the roadside wild rose, intertwined with fragrant honeysuckle vine, is eager to welcome the new month.

And the herb garden...oh, the herb garden, a favorite respite place of mine. Aromatic and lush with green texture that is topped off with bursts of color like ice cream sundaes covered with candied sprinkles while perfectly coiffed rows of lettuce in the salad garden show off their juicy sprigs of spicy and sweet leaves ready to eat. I pick them now before the warmest weather sets in for good causing lettuces to abandon garden and bolt for cooler climates.

May along with most of the pansies may have left town until next year but the  false indigo true-blue false indigo and the fairy-pink wigellea will stay a while longer to greet the day lilies, zinnias and impatiens who in turn will open the door for cosmos and cleomies, morning glories and marigolds to make their own fabulous entrance into the summer garden as June moves gaily along. So, Happy Memorial Day and farewell May, until we meet again, next year.

It's June's turn now.  I have no idea how you came about this year so soon but, come to think of it, I'm glad you are here.Welcome June!