And now it's June?

 This year seems to be absolutely flying past!  It's hard for me to believe it's already June and that summer is just weeks away.  I've had a little time here and there to spend in the garden.  I'm trying to take advantage of any free time (which is little) and pull weeds that are slowly trying to take over.  There seems to be something new blooming everyday, so it's fun finding what the newest flowers are blooming.  The weather hasn't been all that great, lots of gray skies and cool for that time of year, although really this is fairly typical for June in the Seattle area. 
Here's just some of what's happening in the front yard"

 Roses, Peonies, Irises, Alliums and Erysimums in bloom.

 Unknown Irises and Peony 'Festiva Maxima'.

 Lupine started by Sweet Pea at school last year.

 Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise'

 Rose 'Abraham Darby' has it's first flower.  Last year I don't think it got more than one or two flowers.  It was damaged during the previous winter and took all year to recover.

 Spanish Poppies and Red Valerian with Lamb's Ear.

 The Delphinium that came back!  Not as tall as I hoped, but it survive the winter and slugs.

 'Eden Rose'

 Geum 'Double Bloody Mary'.  By far the best Geum in my garden.  Lots of purple Columbines.

 Raised beds are filling in with veggies and herbs.

 Fuchsia, Heucheras and more around this sweet angel.

 Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' and Geranium (I think 'Patricia')

 The chicken feeder planter that I filled earlier this spring.

 A Siberian Iris that I found blooming recently.  This is it's first bloom and it was given to me by a fellow blogger, Linda of Gardening by Trial and Error, who passed away around this time last year.

The driveway garden is doing really well.  We finally dug up the Magnolia that wasn't doing anything and found it's rootball hadn't grown at all.  We have potted it up and are hoping we might be able to "fix" it.  It was replaced by a 4-way grafted Apple tree.

School for both of my girls is wrapping up in the next few weeks.  I'm always surprised at how quickly the school year goes by.  It seems each year is a little busier than the last as they get older and are doing new things.  Luckily I can usually find some time every week or so to unwind and relax in the garden!

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Catching up.

After the recent rains and lack of time I've been able to spend outside lately, today felt like I was entering a jungle when I went to the backyard to work.  You literally could not walk down the pathway for the first half of it.  The geraniums had grown so tall and then flopped over after some wind and rain a couple of days ago.  Today I was I able to cut a path through and cut back some of the plants that are finished.  I'm surprised at what is still blooming now, mostly because so much of it was later than usual.
I also haven't posted too many recent pictures of what I've got blooming outside lately, so I thought I would catch up on that too.

Still loving the Canterbury Bells.  Many had fallen over in the backyard so I cut them and made a bouquet in one of my old watering cans.

Peony 'Festiva Maxima' which survived the winter move is now blooming.  The flowers are smaller than usual, but so glad it is blooming at all.

Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' is a pretty pink.

Rose 'Honey Perfume' has more flowers than ever this year.

Rose 'Julia Child'

Rose 'Abraham Darby' almost didn't make it this year.  It came up from the graft so the stems are much weaker and can barely hold the flowers off the ground.

Baptisia blooming with the neighbors roses.

The little corner garden in the front yard.  Lavatera has started blooming in the corner.

I know some people have already seen this, but I wanted to share what my daughters were doing when I was out taking pictures and watering the other day.

The Littlest Gardener learned something new this summer.  She's learned how to ride a bike with training wheels which has been very exciting for her.

I'm doing my best to catch up and visit everyone's blogs.  I've had a little time here and there, but time at the computer is rare during the summer with the girls home.  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

First Fertilizer Friday of Summer.

Well, it finally feels as if Summer has arrived here.  The sun has been out for several days and the temperatures have finally made it to the mid 70's.  Perfect gardening weather!  I've been doing some weeding and clean up in different parts of the yard and it really felt good to be out there.  The plants have really responded to the warmer temperatures and are looking great.  I bought more Zinnia seeds to sow since I have a feeling the others may not come up.  I've also noticed the Dahlias are very slow to come up this year.  I dug up some tubers to see what was happening and saw that there is new growth, they just seem to be taking their time.
 

When we first went outside a couple of days ago Sweet Pea was excited to find two of these Dragonflies in our front yard.  We usually see the large Blue Darners here, these ones are a little less common in our yard.  I couldn't figure out what type they were.

 Campanula 'Pantaloons' finally made a comeback.  I planted it two summers ago, last year the slugs wouldn't leave it alone and it never bloomed.  I moved it earlier this Spring and was happy to see it blooming.  The inside is covered in purplish polka dots.

The new David Austin rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' is getting close to opening.

 Oxalis crassipes rosea surprised me in bloom.  It tends to stay closed up on cool overcast days, something we've had a lot of.  The clumps of bright pink flowers really stand out.

 Linaria has just started blooming.  It reseeds quite a bit, but is easy to pull up in unwanted places.

 Veronica spicata

Yarrow (Achillea filipendula) 

 I thought it was interesting to see how similar the center of the annual Breadseed Poppies (Papaver somniferum) are to

the perennial Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale) 'Princess Victoria Louise'.

To see who else is "flaunting their flowers" this Fertilizer Friday visit Tootsie who hosts it each week.

Sunny weekend.

What a great weekend we ended up having. The weather really improved, although I don't know if we actually reached 75 degrees. Just having two days of sun and having a chance to enjoy it was just perfect. In fact it was just the right temperature for digging, weeding and even gutter cleaning ☺. The girls had a sprinkler out and had a lot of fun. Around here lately if it's above 65 degrees it feels like Summer.
We also made a trip to the Antique Rose Farm, which I mentioned in an earlier post, and chose a new David Austin rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton'. It's full of buds now, but when it blooms I'll post some pictures.

I was so happy to find that the Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' is blooming. Last year in the heat of the Summer I decided to chance moving it to a sunnier place where it could get bigger. Later in the year I found that I had left roots behind and new leaves were coming up. I happily dug that plant up and moved it to another place. Now the original roots have sent up leaves and flowers as well as the two I moved. So, not only did the plant survive the move, but I ended up with three total.

Salvias are blooming and covered in bees.

Spireas are full of flowers. This one's tag has been lost, but I really love the bright pink flowers on it.

The 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea I planted last Summer is doing well, still small, but lots of blooms.

Rose 'Kimberlina' has lightly scented flowers.

Campanula 'Summertime Blues'. I've read these flowers are sterile so should not spread as much as some Campanulas do.

One of the hanging Fuchsias. The hummingbirds have been at the Fuchsias off and on all during the day.

I've been trying some new things out on my blog. I wrote this post in Blogger in draft where you can load pictures much quicker and choose extra large for the size. While these pictures aren't quite as large as before, loading them this way saves me time and is easier to put them in the post. I'm also changing the blog layout some. Please let me know if anything seems out of place or is difficult to read. I've noticed some Blogger blogs loading very slowly lately too, not sure if it's just my computer or if others have noticed that as well.