“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.”
Lucy Maud Montgomery
At the end of spring and beginning of summer the poets narcissus is the last daffodil left standing. It’s an old and fragrant variety that doesn’t bloom until the cool weather has given way to summer heat. There’s one clump of them here among the naturalized daffodils. I usually cut most of them and take them in the house since they don’t last long once the heat comes.
There seems to be some controversy about whether naturalized daffodils need to be deadheaded or not. I always do as this takes only minutes with the scissors during daffodil season.
The newly planted (as of last fall) species tulips put on a good show that lasted for more than two weeks. The first to bloom was the spectacular bright yellow tarda. Next came bright red ones and finally a beautiful little rust-coloured one. These are a mixture (Ground Cover Tulip mix from Vesey’s) so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Those of you who are afraid of mixtures need to get out of your own way. My rationale is that control in the garden is a bit of an illusion (I’m looking at you chipmunks) so why not welcome any possible element of surprise.
That Nature holds a lot of the cards was brought home to me recently when I discovered some species tulips in the field beside the vegetable garden. These came from the border that used to be along the west side of the house. The summer they all disappeared I would come home at the end of the day to find holes and the skins of the eaten bulbs left on the back step. It was a pleasant surprise to find that some had been buried in the field for later and obviously forgotten about. I find that it’s best to embrace this kind of randomness rather than get upset about it.
Parrot tulips are the last tulips to bloom here before it’s officially summer. These are possibly an acquired taste. I love the wild colours and fringed petals. Two of them, both red and yellow and striped with green, have provided a nice jolt of colour on the kitchen table for more than a week now.
I have ordered more hybrid tulips over the years than any other bulb. They mostly last for a few years and then stop blooming or disappear altogether. The late blooming ones like the Darwins seem to last the longest. And since the odd one lasts for many years I have ended up with a total mish mash of colours in the bed beside the house. Let’s just call it a cottage garden and be done with worrying about colour schemes.
In large gardens with big budgets, hybrid tulips are treated as annuals. I read about one English garden where they plant thousands of late blooming hybrid tulips every fall which are allowed to bloom once and then they’re removed and composted. Poor tulips! This seems spectacularly wasteful to me.
I remember many years ago going with a friend in Ottawa to get tulip bulbs that were sold off after they had bloomed once. My friend got a huge bag for not very much money and was pleased with her purchase.
This was a morel year. They appeared in their usual spot and have also expanded their range a bit. I have no idea why there were none last year. Maybe they liked the cold and damp spring this year. It’s a mystery. Isn’t it good that we don’t know everything? I appreciate them when they choose to appear.
The giant nicotine seedling that I was given last year started to shoot up at the end of February when the days got longer. Huge white flowers appeared in April. At this point it was at least five feet tall. I started to put it out on the porch during the day in early May to get it used to being outside. A passing walker asked if it was a triffid.
The height was awkward in terms of moving it in and out so I cut it back by a few feet. It responded to pruning by growing many new branches which I assume will eventually flower. It interested me to note that it has a natural defense against gypsy moth caterpillars. The leaves and stems are sticky and the caterpillars end up stuck to the plant and immobilized. How amazing is that?
I bought some annuals in mid-May to make a mixed planter. I had intended to put them all together but the purple spotted petunia struck me as so outrageous that I gave it its own pot.
This is the old-fashioned petunia which needs to be deadheaded but I don’t mind. The colour is just so wonderful that I’m sure I will enjoy it all summer. It is the ultimate cottage garden flower.
Finally, I thought I was seeing things when I looked out on the morning of May 28 to see snow falling on the lilacs and honeysuckle. Good thing that I covered the tomatoes and hadn’t gotten around to planting the dahlias yet. I was told not to plant the dahlias until the first of June and that was obviously good advice this year.
Let’s hope that June will see us done with snow and cold nights. Happy summer everyone.
By Jill Williams
