The month of June is not only known as National Pollinator Month and National Perennial Month, but also as National Rose Month, among others.

Our garden roses are amazing this month, especially our ‘Queen Elizabeth’ roses. Also enchanting are the irises, climbing hydrangeas, viburnums, Kousa dogwood bracts, baptisia, digitalis, and clematis. Incidentally, I recently learned that our beloved clematis belong to the buttercup family. Never knew! Or, if I did, I forgot.

The peonies were also incredibly beautiful, but we made a major mistake by not using the peony cages to help hold up their blossoms. Hopefully, next year we won’t be so lazy. Or, we may leave the cages up year round, as some of our neighbors do.

We thought that by removing all peony buds except the major one on each stem, it would help keep the flowers from falling over, especially after a heavy rainstorm. No such luck!

Speaking of heavy rain, we were hopeful that all the incredibly excessive pollen drop this year would be washed away. But again, no such luck. Hubby and I still continue to suffer from itchy eyes and noses. Thankfully, the COVID-19 masks actually help when we’re outside working in the garden.

We’ll be sowing our lettuce, radishes, green beans, zucchini, and cucumber seeds this weekend in the veggie garden. The perennial rhubarb, chives and lovage are doing very well. Sadly, so are the weeds.

So, going forward and focusing on positives, we’ll think of England’s Queen Elizabeth and the fact that she is celebrating her Jubilee Year. At 70 years, her reign is “the longest in history,” we are told.

Best Wishes, Your Majesty! We would love to entertain you in our garden and share our roses with you!