Summer Begins.

6-20-23 VERMONT: Getting out of the Metro area today was hellish. There were traffic jams on the GSP and I-95 in Greenwich. I switched  to the Merritt Pky and landed in a bigger jam. Other minor jams further adorned the trip—Vermont was traffic free.

Anyway we’re here, the house and gardens look great and the upper pond is an inch from being full. The rain gauge had 4.25 inches which is why the gardens and yard look so good. Forget-Me-Not [FMN] are everywhere adding a touch of blue to everything. The brook is blue, not from water, but from FMN. I guess I forgot how good they look at this time of the season. Some of the peonies are open and some of the Itoh peonies also. The poppies are very colorful. Lupin are out in force as well as iris and flags, anemones and more on the list of new blooms.

The Summer Solstice is here, Spring is over. The sun begins its descent.

New blooms: Wentworth viburnum, weigela, diablo, knapweed, bishops weed, meadow rue, bearded iris, Siberian iris, flags, chives, peony, Itoh peony, apricot hybrid daylily, dianthus, thyme, abelia, burning bush, terrace roses, fence roses, goats beard, ladies mantle, bridal wreath spirea, Asian lilac, foxglove, baptisia. 

Lupin on the pond bank, a rogersia on the right and FMN in front.

Poppies, vivid color

An Itoh peony and bud for another flower.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on yellow flag. There are at least two flitting about.

The brook flowing with FMN.

FMN around the upper, new pond.

Siberian iris has three sets of three petals--the upright three, the drooping three and the horizontal three close to the lower three. The nectar is between the middle and lower sets, and the pollinator gets covered with pollen going for the nectar.

This hybrid daylily has two sets of three, thin petals that bloom before the native daylily and have that apricot color uniformly on the petal. Petals in sets of three usually indicate that the plant is a monocot.