Garden Update ~ June Blooms and CPL

Well, the roses got the memo: “It’s June!”

Robinhood:

Scabrosa:

Zepherine:

Black lace elderberries came out to play, too:

Fresh lettuce and half week old cut peonies, still incredibly fragrant:

It’s a feast for eyes, nose and tummy. Below, you can see my recently emptied Garden Tower Project, with its redistributed and recharged (Epsom salts + worm castings) soil spread among dozens of container plants lined up for eventual transport:

Believe it or not, those are only some of the containers. Yep, CPL (Crazy Plant Lady) has struck again. Once I figured out how I could use fabric pots and Big Bag Beds to create an instant garden under and around mature front yard trees, it was all over for the garden downsize. Once I discovered we have a resident groundhog in the new backyard and potential deer, bunnies and groundhogs in the new front yard, the fragrant (researched and repellent) plants somehow multiplied before my eyes. A bucket of leftover sand joined forces with worm castings and homemade compost to create even more potted options for divisions and starts from the successfully diverse ecosystem here.

I also might have called for a resident great horned owl as gatekeeper and garden guard. (Guarden?) Long story, but I have a history of calling great horned owls and having them appear. One even sat with me every afternoon for six weeks at my parents’ house while I recovered from my 1998 brain injury. I put out a request this week, and a friend who hadn’t heard one hoot since my wedding suddenly started hearing a great horned owl and felt nudged to tell me right after I mentally asked the owl for confirmation. I took that synchronicity as the spirit of the owl “reporting for duty” like so many others — praying mantises, wasps, mason bees — have done shortly after I expressed a need. With any luck, a resident owl will enforce the new garden rules, so that everyone behaves and gets along.

In any case, the portable garden continues to grow — both in size and number. I’m almost out of available pots, but I still have compost, sand and worm castings, so watch out, New Yard! You’re about to get an edible upgrade. It’s a lot more fun than packing. 😉