My June Garden in the Shenandoah Valley

June is the Garden of Eden time here, while the plants are still fresh and new and the Japanese beetles haven't yet arrived. Dewy mornings filled with glowing flowers and bird song are a little piece of heaven. Our rich green valley reminds me of the Shire with the hobbits, especially in June. Loveliness surrounds us. Then as summer advances and the heat, usually drought, and bad bugs settle in gardening is less idyllic. Although, some summers are much kinder than others. This one will be glorious.

(Shirley poppies and larkspur)

Pollinators are all over the garden. After unusually heavy rain for days the sun has finally reappeared. Bees and butterflies love forget-me-nots. These are the Chinese variety below.

"The garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature." ~Jeff Cox

"It is utterly forbidden to be half-hearted about gardening. You have got to love your garden whether you like it or not." ~W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, Garden Rubbish, 1936

The first coneflower in bloom. Echinacea.

"You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt." ~Author Unknown

"I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden." ~John Erskine

The breadseed poppy is beginning to bloom. Papaver somniferum.

"In my garden I spend my days; in my library I spend my nights. My interests are divided between my geraniums and my books. With the flower I am in the present; with the book I am in the past." ~Alexander Smith, "Books and Gardens," Dreamthorp: A Book of Essays Written in the Country, 1863

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." ~Cicero

Beautiful rose red buckwheat blooming in the garden above, covered with pollinators. White coriander is flowering beside the barley.

"Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps;
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps."
~A. Bronson Alcott, "The Garden," Tablets, 1868

Children also inhabit my garden. These are three of my creative grandkids and this is some of what becomes of my Amazon boxes. Cardboard weapons and protective gear for wars against Orks and other great dangers. They even made a crossbow.

Imagination blooms in the garden.

I think on the latest book I'm writing while I'm weeding, and develop the plots. Sometimes, I just 'am' while I muse with the earth. The garden is a good place to 'be'. 

For more on me, visit my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Trissel/e/B002BLLAJ6

Inspiration from the Garden

We enjoyed a splendid June in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia until the past few days. Late June and July are hot and humid. Rains keep passing us by so I'm praying we get some of these storms soon, but not the really bad ones. The battle to survive without succumbing to nature's harsher side is here. I've prepared the gardens as best I can. The plants we grow are hardy wildflowers, heirlooms, and herbs, with some vegetables and fruits mixed in. Many of the flowers choose their own sites. 

Every single day in the garden is different and constantly changing from early spring through late fall. A perpetually altering world, magical in its way. I ordered more seeds from my favorite site and am expanding. I must have planted another pound of wild flowers this past week. There are many nooks and thistly spots on the farm that could use some magic. Coreopsis, hollyhocks, aster, evening primrose, and larkspur are prominent. I also have a lot of Shirley poppies and other varieties. Poppies are sacred to my people.

'In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.' ~Abram L. Urban

I do mightily love seeds, brimming with possibility. What wonders may come...all from a packet of tiny life-bearing seeds. If they grow. I can't stop planting them to see. Then watching, gleeful when they sprout. And waiting for the blooms, like an Easter egg surprise, because only I know what will be when the majesty unfolds. A wonderful secret to hold and tend, and to share. If it rains, or I must water like a mad woman.

Larkspur and miniature hollyhocks to the left in front of the house. I love the early summer flowers.

'The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.' ~George Bernard Shaw

This is very true. The garden is a deeply spiritual place. I find much inspiration there. Also for my stories. Scenes and plots come to me while I'm at work. The only problem is writing them down. I think I'll remember and sometimes I do.

(Heirloom poppies and Chinese Forget-Me-Nots)

It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought. ~James Douglas, Down Shoe Lane

There is something magical about dawn or dusk in the garden. Both times of day are wonderfully special. Below is a pic I took a few days ago of the back garden at dusk. You can see my lovely hollyhock and the barn up above it.

 (Pale pink heirloom hollyhocks with the barn behind them)

How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Amen. I'm trying to beautify my bit of earth. 

 (My mini wildflower meadow)

 'You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt.' ~Author Unknown 

One of our neighbors. Image by Hubby. Garden images by me

For more on my work follow my Amazon Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Trissel/e/B002BLLAJ6/