studying the June garden

Studying the back garden from under the overhang this morning (which has an electrical outlet, so typing as I study), I like the big blocks of growth I’m seeing, but it’s easy to predict more needed interventions ahead. The planted area of the back garden comprises roughly 625 square feet, all south facing.

The herbaceous giants include the sanguisorba, persicaria, joe-pye weed, Lobelia tupa, Stipa gigantea, Euphorbia stygiana, gillenia, Silver Spike grass (Achnatherum calamagrostis), interspersed and fronted by the more mid range in size like the early-blooming geums and sesleria and deschampsia grasses. I’m nervously aware that any of the giants could become the predominant players, squeezing out all other details. But so far, this June, everything is still holding together.

What drives me crazy in winter, when it all goes away and becomes an invisible garden, is one of the strengths in the growing season, being able to play with the shapes and shift things around when proportions change.

With most of my gardening life in zone 10, where it’s too warm for herbaceous plants to achieve dormancy and build up strength to return, (and way too dry), it’s these plants that I’ve always wanted to experience. Coupling that with a propensity for big shapes, big plants, and an appetite for an exihilarating rush of growth means that already lots of plants are in danger of being crowded out in this garden’s fourth summer.

For example, the patrinia planted between the shrub-like persicaria and Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’ is later to leaf out than those two, and as the latter mature early into big clumps, the patrinia dwindled from the canyon effect. It was moved this spring to a place vacated by the aptly name Dahlia ‘Camano Sitka,’ tree-like in size and vigor, which created its own canyon issues for surrounding plants. Those are just a couple examples of the many boundary disputes resolved this spring.

Deferred for now is the question on whether the joe-pye weed ultimately has to be moved as it pushes out on neighbors north, south, east and west. Either it gets shifted or the next-door Lobelia tupa moves. It will take the joe-pye weed much less time to rebuild than the lobelia, so the investment of time is another consideration.

The planting prominent in early spring, in the border closest to the back fence, cirsium, angelica, symphytum, hesperis, camassias, becomes concealed from the view from the overhang as the summer growth progresses. There’s about a 4-5 path between the back border and the fence.

As the bloom of the orange geums becomes less profuse, June brings the flowering of the sweet williams I started from seed a few years ago. Described as biennial or short-lived perennial, clumps of the dark seed strain ‘Oeschberg’ return fattened up in spring, with no seeming intention of dwindling.

These are famous cut flowers, so they last long in the garden too and pick up like alliums all the other burgundy in leaf and flower I seem to favor.

Most of the clumps of sweet william have been shifted to the front garden, moved to make way for newer things in the back, but they are invaluable for threading a strong line among grasses beginning in early summer and giving the impression that, after a slow spring, the garden is on its way. I’m thinking of trying the white strain too. The front garden acted as an escape valve for the overplanting in the back, but no more, both are full to capacity.

The big shapes may dominate but smaller scale planting fills containers and the graveled area.

There’s very few local gardens to study, though I do see peonies, roses, and oriental poppies in bloom now, and the invasive gorse (Ulex europaeus) gleams on the coast and in clearcut areas.

Lots more June left, enjoy! AGO