June In the Garden

Like a lot of other things, Lavender bloomed early this year. Once the florets open, the bees go wild.
When they're done and the blooms turn brown, trim off the flower stalks. This is a good time for shaping up your plants. I cut back my lavender hard early in the spring. I just didn't get around to all the plants. So now I'll go through and trim off all the floppy branches and the ones with bare wood and foliage at the end. There's a lot of new growth underneath, which will push out and be more compact and shrubby. The plants have plenty of time to push out new foliage before cold weather arrives.

What I've been harvesting-

culinary herbs - tarragon, oregano, savory, mints, lemon balm (cut off the little white flowers on the lemon balm like the ones in the picture before it seeds or it goes everywhere.)
golden yarrow - also early love in a mist seed pods, larkspur
chamomile flowers - lots of them!

What looks good in the garden-

hydrangeas - they look great
lady's bedstraw - looks like a ground cover, then gets tall with tiny gold flowers. Sweet fragrance like honey.
clary sage - sturdy, upright plants with long lasting blooms
hyssop - dark green foliage, dark blue flowers in a spike and the bees love it. Also anise hyssop, with purple flowers
coneflower - I just love them and when the goldfinches come to them, it's even better.

We have to keep Lucy away from a small bunny that's living in the back corner of the yard. It's out of the nest, but still awfully small to be chased. This is at least the second batch of babies so far this year.