Its mildly disturbing how quickly the weeks roll by, but once again it’s Tuesday and time to check in on this year’s view. This week marks a new month, a definite turn to summer, and for those in the US it’s Independence day so bring on the picnics and barbecues and fireworks 🙂

A lush, robust Tuesday view. We have not wanted for water this year and many of the plants are bigger than I’ve ever seen. The bugs are thrilled as well, and I don’t recall any other year which had this much buzzing and flitting and fluttering .
I’m declaring this the year of the lily in my garden since it seems as if bulbs all over are putting out more blooms than ever. I have special to me seedlings which have surprised me with their first flowers but I also have some of the fancier hybrids which have finally settled in.

Lilium ‘Red Velvet’. It may not show well in the garden because of its dark, saturated color, but check out that dark, saturated color!
The Asiatic hybrids are some of the most popular of the early lilies, but I’m not all that crazy about the shorter, upright facing forms. I like the tall downward facing ones, and if I had more room I think I could easily collect a few… hmmmm… new bed idea?

‘Red Velvet’ is in its second year here and about five feet tall. That’s an excellent eye level flower for me, and perfect for close inspection.
Now I won’t go on about the scarlet lily beetle, since as of yet they have not reached our little valley, but for those of you afflicted by this pest I extend my sympathies. I dread the day they reach here and that will likely be the year the lilies are given away to better homes. I’ll just grow sunflowers if it comes to that.

The mailbox is destined to be engulfed with sunflowers this summer (they’re the big leaves in the center). No idea what kind they are other than birdfood leftovers, but I do know they’ll be awesome 🙂
The street side of the border is beginning to show some color again as the lavender colored perovskia, pink coneflowers (Echinacea), and a lonely yellow rudbeckia open up.

Weedy or wildflowery? If I ever get around to mulching I’ll try to neaten up the first foot or so of the edge so it looks like I planned all these plantings… which I didn’t 😉
A few years ago I tried adding a few named varieties of Echinacea purpurea to the border… well actually it was just two, and neither were the more exotically colored forms which you see out today… the plants seeding around now are just more of the average form, which in my opinion are still awesome, but don’t be fooled into thinking you need every seedling which comes up. I rip out plenty each year, and if I were smarter I’d do it again now while they’re in bloom in order to select out the smaller, less exciting flower forms.

Sometimes it amazes me that flowers this nice just grow all by themselves in some midwestern prairie.
As you probably know, these coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are North American natives and not far removed from the wild forms which dot the prairie landscape. For a minute I might ask myself why I bother with other more troublesome primadonnas from landscapes far removed.

More coneflowers
Have I mentioned spring and now early summer have been perfectly watered? They have, and the hydrangeas and pretty much everything except for a few iris and dahlias are looking all the better for it. Plants are lush this year and on top of that it seems all the good bugs are swarming while the bad are sparse. You know that won’t last, but for now the only thing which seems too lush are a few of the ornamental grasses and this Eryngium.

Maybe it’s just early but this normally steely blue and gray Eryngium (species unknown) is just mostly green *yawn*… we will see how it progresses…
The late planting of annuals is also a work in progress although I have high hopes for a later season of full plants and bold colors… if not entirely tasteful or well thought out colors 🙂

The newest bed expansion is still filling in. I believe there’s already plenty here and just needs to fill in, but it makes me anxious to see open ground in July.
I guess the only thing left work-wise for this summer is mulch. I couldn’t garden without mulch and this year I’m treating myself to a load of shredded bark mulch rather than a temporary bandage of grass clippings or shredded leaves (which were used up elsewhere months ago). This time of year I only cover the outer most foot or two of beds since the inner sections are already covered in plants. It’s not that I wouldn’t mind mulch there as well, but for as much as I plant and replant, this perfect coating of shredded neatness would be dug in and over within a few months and for me that doesn’t sound like a worth-it kind of investment.

A common upright sedum with a few small up and coming coleus and a patch of rose campion (Lychnis coronata). To me a sunny garden without sedum is just nonsense.
So that’s a pretty full Tuesday View. As usual thanks go to Cathy at Words and Herbs, and I invite everyone to give her site a visit to see what her view and others around the world look like this week. It’s always a treat and I’m sure they probably mulched weeks ago. Happy fourth, and have a great week!