From my duplicate posting:

”Welcome to the New England Gardening "Show Us Your Gardens" Photo Thread.

This is a place to post photos and to discuss what is in your garden. This is the thread for June 2023. All garden photos are welcome. All landscape and garden photos are welcome. If it is a photo taken in your New England garden in the month of June, it is fair game to post it here.

Here are the links for the last couple of years’ June threads:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6272104/show-us-your-landscape-gardens-a-photo-thread-june-2022#n=46

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6133745/show-us-your-landscape-gardens-a-photo-thread-june-2021#n=83”

POSTED BY PRAIRIE MOON TO THE DUPLICATE THREAD:

”I just saw this thread. Great minds .... lol. Thanks for finding the old links to post.

I could use another May as well. I usually expect to work all the way through June every year, and stop for July and Aug and pick it up again in September. The heat is too early and I have been out of the garden on all of the hot days, except for a couple of very early hours in the mornings. I have almost finished everything I need to do in my front garden, pruning the shrubs, fertlizing and mulching, transplanting and changing the design of my full sun bed, started a lot more containers this year and mostly with vegetables. But that still leaves the rest of the yard!! I haven't touched the back yet. Or the side of the garage. And I still have to dig up and pot up any perennials, and vines that are in the way of a new fence install. And now it's been so dry, I'm dragging the hose all over the place, because I didn't get a new irrigation system in place yet, so I'm still hoping to do that too.

But - I am trying not to look at the big picture and stick to a list of priorities and get the most important and timely things done first. Otherwise I start to feel overwhelmed. I am very happy though, to have the whole front done. It's been a long time since I could say that.

I had a bad infestation of scale on my favorite Blue Holly shrub that I didn't notice until it was really advanced. I was going to remove the shrub, but I got such high estimates for taking it out, and it was too big for us to tackle ourselves, that I decided to just prune it very hard and take off all the damage and see if it could recover. And this is the 3rd season starting since I started my hard prune.

I had an idea that part of the problem was that I had added landscape fabric to that bed to keep down the weeding and I just thought that was not good for everything in the bed. So this year, since I found someone to help in the garden, we ripped out all the landscape fabric, applied compost generously and alfalfa meal as a growth stimulator, oh and Hollytone too. We mulched thiickly with bark mulch and I've been trying to keep it moist so it doesn't dry out. It is looking amazing! A lot of new growth in all the right places, vigorous, healthy green stems and leaves. No sign of any insect issues. It is just a very satisfying feeling to have success with a long term project like that. And I think I've corrected the reason for the problem.

I'll have to take a photo of it soon and post it.”

PM, I thought I’d never heard of Kolkwitzia, but I see it is Beauty Bush, which I have always ignored at nurseries because I really didn’t know what it did. Boy, was that a bad idea. i LOVE your photo. What a treat!

your yellow Baptisia is a great shade. I have too much purple in the garden when Baptisia blooms (still a couple weeks away for me) and I could use some yellow varieties.

If I am ever your way I’m going to sneak in and snatch some of your Geraniums. If you wake up and they’re all gone, just blame the rabbits. ;-) They look fantastic. Geranium and Dianthus are my favorite genus. So many beautiful plants that are amazing performers. But…I do have Gernaium ’Purple Ghost’ that seems to struggle. I have tried it in more shade and then more sun. Didn’t like either. This week I’m moving it to a pot and letting it become a potted specimen, just like my Rex begonias. I love your Geraniums, especially Karmina.

Today during the rain I am determined to organize my brain. I, too, am overwhelmed. I’ve got to sit down and organize these huge projects into steps so I can start completing the small steps. My brain just freezes Otherwise.

Congratulations on healing your Holly. Well done! Feels satisfying, I know.

Here is a picture of the Blue Moon woodland phlox that is in more sun than the previous picture. Your Geraniums would look good with this.

My neighbor’s beautiful rhody has a deep purple eye. I’ve never seen one like this anywhere else.

This big rhody straddles property lines. Ogon spirea contrasts well with it.

hostas are starting to poke through my standard Geraniums.

I have some lungwort still hanging on.

Tiny Rubies Dainthus is a favorite and it is impossible to find outside of online vendors. The hens and checks are stalwarts in between rocks.

(Houzz will not post this in full. Knowing Houzz prefers to treat me this way, I copied it BEFORE posting. Take THAT, Houzz! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! i win!)

PM, I thought I’d never heard of Kolkwitzia, but I see it is Beauty Bush, which I have always ignored at nurseries because I really didn’t know what it did. Boy, was that a bad idea. i LOVE your photo. What a treat!

your yellow Baptisia is a great shade. I have too much purple in the garden when Baptisia blooms (still a couple weeks away for me) and I could use some yellow varieties.

If I am ever your way I’m going to sneak in and snatch some of your Geraniums. If you wake up and they’re all gone, just blame the rabbits. ;-) They look fantastic. Geranium and Dianthus are my favorite genus. So many beautiful plants that are amazing performers. But…I do have Gernaium ’Purple Ghost’ that seems to struggle. I have tried it in more shade and then more sun. Didn’t like either. This week I’m moving it to a pot and letting it become a potted specimen, just like my Rex begonias. I love your Geraniums, especially Karmina.

Today during the rain I am determined to organize my brain. I, too, am overwhelmed. I’ve got to sit down and organize these huge projects into steps so I can start completing the small steps. My brain just freezes Otherwise.Congratulations on healing your Holly. Well done! Feels satisfying, I know.Here is a picture of the Blue Moon woodland phlox that is in more sun than the previous picture. Your Geraniums would look good with this.

My neighbor’s beautiful rhody has a deep purple eye. I’ve never seen one like this anywhere else.

This big rhody straddles property lines. Ogon spirea contrasts well with it.

hostas are starting to poke through my standard Geraniums.

I have some lungwort still hanging on.

Tiny Rubies Dianthus is a favorite and it is impossible to find outside of online vendors. The hens and checks are stalwarts in between rocks.

I meant to post this earlier, but I have lungwort seedlings all over my shade area, which thrills me. One of them has white flowers. Very interesting coming from an open-pollinated seedling. It planted itself right by a brunnera which you can see in the picture.

Most of my huge old rhodies are purple or pink, but this red-pink one, rare in my yard, always catches my eye,.

Deanna,

As I said, Kolkwitzia completely low maintenance and care free for us. I don’t want to jinx myself, but no disease or pest problems in 30 years. And this shrub was here before we were and our guess is that is about 50 yrs old. So it is an old variety before there was the explosion of hybridizing.

We saw one of these in someone’s front yard the other day, driving by, and I did a double take and said to DH - is that a Kolkwitzia? And he agreed, but it looked amazing. Ours is in so much shade, this was in a lot of sun and it was covered from head to foot with blooms.

Today I notice there are a few pink blooms at the bottom of the yellow stalks on the Baptisia.

My Geraniums seem to really love it there and they’ve been there a long time to get that big. I’ve tried moving them to another location but it was in more sun and on a slope and they didn’t do well. Happy to share some divisions with you - any time Deanna!

And if you like Dianthus, I will send you some saved seed from ‘Siberian Blues’ Dianthus which I grow every year and you can keep it going a long time by deadheading. And easy to collect seed and share.

Love your Blue Moon phlox - it looks very happy there!

And what a different Rhododendron! I’ve never seen one like that!

I don’t know what the name of the pink Rhododendron is, but this variety seems indestructible too. My neighbor has one that is covered with blooms too, up past the roof line of their Cape. Last winter it had noticeable die back and I wondered if he was going to prune. He didn’t and it bloomed and filled in entirely covering over the dead areas. Lol Beautiful!

Oh boy that is a nice combination of Geranium and Hostas.

Ha ha…..I always compose my posts on Text Edit and copy paste it so I have a copy in case they fail to post. It is SO less frustrating when the post disappears. Yes, you WIN!!! Lol

Now there’s a triplcate! Lol You can go back and delete, Deanna. Such a rigamarole here on Houzz!

Exciting about the Lungwort reseeding. I love anything that reseeds gently. Mine petered out. I found two small white bleeding heart seedlings the other day and I never see those in the yard.

Pretty deep rose Rhodie!

I can’t believe it went back and put my whole entire post in!! Thanks for letting me know. Houzz is a trickster!

Still not very bright out there, but I took a few photos of the Holly that is rebounding quite nicely. Scale is an intimidating infestation to address, so I hope the success I've had with my Holly, with a completely 'organic' solution of simply hard pruning, will encourage anyone else dealing with Scale.

I don't have a Before photo, but believe it or not I took a lot off this shrub. It was at least 3ft taller than this and It was protruding into my front walkway in the front so I took another 3ft off that front side. I had a lot of vertical branches in the back that were making it hard to get a ladder behind it to get at the gutters. I am sure I did not stick with the one third rule - of not taking off more than 1/3 in one season.

A lot of times, when I prune lightly, I get a lot of vigorous growth at the tips and not so much from the base, or along the main trunks. You can see here how much new growth there has been along the trunk, low on the base and in the interior.

Lots of growth along the trunk...

Blue Holly - It's a male and it is very vigorous. I love hollies. I believe this one is 'Blue Prince'.

Well, your DH is right. That holly looks very healthy, so you certainly do a good job of bringing things back from the brink!

I've decided to post the roses photos in threads in the Rose and Antique Rose forums. You can find them by going through my Houzz homepage (click on Mad_Gallica) Otherwise I feel like I'm spamming.

So here are (mostly) non-rose things.

Gas plant with some species daylilies in the background

Halesia (American silverbell) I got from George at a Conn. plant swap

A Rutgers dogwood. I have totally forgotten which one

The back walk

Mad Gallica

I haven’t had a bloom open on roses yet this year, but any day now. So thanks for the heads up, to see your Roses on the Rose forum.

Love that Silverbell! So graceful. Do you enjoy it?

I had a Rutgers dogwood and it just died on me and I have no idea why. I haven’t replaced it.

Your red rose on the wall….gorgeous! And SO many flowers! There are shades of red that I’m not that crazy about but that is a beautiful shade of red.

Mad G, Do you like your had plants? I’ m not familiar with them other than hearing the name. You do have a beautiful New England walk. so LOVELY!

PM, I saved a thread where you recommended several roses. I haven’t given up on getting some but I must admit I’m glad I didn’t buy any last year considering our winter! Maybr next year .

When I got the Halesia from George, he said to plant it somewhere I can look up at it. The flowers very much hang down, and don't look like that much from the side. So I planted it off the front corner of the house, near the start of the small hill that goes to the side yard.

Fast forward about ten years, and the lot across the street is cleared, and a new house goes in. That tree is less than a foot from the absolute perfect place to plant a small tree to block the view from our side, screened porch to the new house. So even if it never bloomed, it would be earning its keep.

The rose is, of course, Quadra (the Great and Powerful) One of the main canes was crushed in a March snowfall, but I'm letting it bloom before cutting it off.

Deanna, I'm assuming you mean the gas plants? (spellcheck is evil) They weren't something I was familiar with at all until we moved here. Then I seemed to see them in all the 'serious gardeners' gardens. They are slow, and they don't like being moved - at least that is what I was told. The slow part is certainly true. Admittedly it started as a small plant, but it took a long time before it even bloomed. Some people react badly to the sap, so I try to just leave it alone.

If you are interested in roses, something to be aware of is that the best word to describe a lot of the zone ratings is 'fictional'.

PM, I would welcome the Dianthus Siberian Blues seeds. Thank you!

Yes, MG, I meant ”gas.” You did a pretty good job vanquishing evil! Thank you for the gas plant and rose information. If rose zone ratings are more fictional than new hybrid info, I’ll tread carefully. For some reason I have the impression they don’t like winter wind? If correct, that’s a challenge here to find sun without wind.

One of my absolute favorite ”silent heroes” in the garden is Leucathoe. It has a cooperate form and color to both play off of and complement other forms, is indestructible it seems, and can fend off the aggressive guys like pachysandra. I’m so glad it was here when I inherited this garden or I would not have learned about it. Here it is with its tiny blooms (that you never notice) highlighting Victory hosta, another absolute favorite of mine.

This combination has quickly become a favorite, even though it was half planned and half a surprise. The poppies are only in their third year of blooms, and in the past there were empty beautyberry brancghes ruining the picture because they weren’t quite dead, but always in later recovery from winter stress. I couldn’t cut them out, but they looked so bad. Now with the braches completely gone as the beauty berry grows from its base, and will be without question either moved or shovel pruned, this combo finally looks clean and wonderful. I am really really turning on to gentle or pale apricots in the garden. The color seems to go with EVERYTHING and gives thing both a coolness and a sense of charm. I’ve got some pale apricot foxglove about to bloom. I planted the Amsonia for the foliage and fall color and never expected the pale blue flowers to coincide and look so good with the poppies and Nepeta here.

When someone is saying something like 'roses don't like winter wind', what they are really saying is 'you are zone pushing with this plant, and should plan accordingly'.

I love enjoying everybody’s roses. It’s so nice so see the beautiful things you have in your garden which I don’t have. i have few Campanula other than persicaria, as well, because I hold back since some can be quite spreaders and I need to learn which ones to avoid. Dee, I really like yours.

With our REALLY cool and REALLY moist weather lately, things like poppies and Dicentra are holding on for much longer. My Dicentra ’Gold Heart’ is still blooming, and the rogue orphan poeny by it is a great partner. I’m really enjoying things this year!

Also, this year is a banner year for Lemon Candy Ninebark. I am pretty sure that I underestimated the time to ”establish” shrubs and should be thankful as many survived. I think I needed to baby them with water for longer than one season. I think this Ninebark is telling me it survived despite me!

And, lastly, it was a perfect morning for the moisture on Ladies Mantle to glisten like diamonds. Hope the picture captures it even a little, but it’s always better in person.

Another wonderful color that coordinates with apricot. These poppies have flopped to the ground by small Lauren’s Grape poppies

I haven't been able to keep up here. Not the greatest gardening season at all. Of course since we've had multiple hot dry seasons I've focused more on plants that can tolerate that, particularly the hot season veggies. I had a new set up to allow me to grow more tomatoes and peppers. Ha! Just in time for no sun and too much rain. I haven't had to use the water in my rain barrels at all. Poor growth for everything that is in my full sun bed.

Then there are the rabbits! OMGosh, it's like an invasion this year. 3 and 4 generations in the yard some days, from the tiniest to full grown. They are eating everything even my roses for the first time. Stripping the foliage off the canes and even chopping off the flowers sometimes. Asters and Lilies - don't know that I'll get a flower this year. so I'm turning my attention elsewhere than to the garden. Too frustrating.

But, I've been looking out my kitchen window at our Gray Dogwood. So easy, so reliable and this is the best I've ever seen it. Covered with flowers. I just went out to take a photo and there are even some clusters that haven't opened yet.

I ran out of battery after this single photo. Not the best. It's also very humid out and it's affecting the camera lens. In person, it looks larger. It really is in a lot of shade because it is due north of a very large Silver Maple. Usually I get a spattering of flowers on the top so having them all over even the shadier areas is surprising.

Deanna - I'll put aside some Dianthus SB seed for you and let you know when I have it.

Love everyone's photos!! Just getting in under the wire for June here.

I know it’s July 1, but these should probably be in the June thread because they started blooming in June. So, for what should’ve been posted on the last day of June:

Carthusian dianthus and Bradbury monarda

French catchly, these pink ladies seed all over and are very friendly to neighbors

campion just starting

Poppy, not looking it up, so NOID today!

More:

Sutton’s Apricot foxglove

Artic Fire dianthus, which usually look better than in this pic. I think they’re still furled up for nighttime here.

Black poppy, nice pop of “What?!” in the garden.