June flowers

 

Above, near the lily pools at the BBG, Veronicastrum stands about six feet tall, with bee.

Back to the rose garden, here are the loathed sweet potato vines, a month after we planted them. They are an effective and bright ground cover. It was the kind of hot that day where, when you bend over to plant, all the sweat gathers on the tip of your chin and drips in a steady stream onto your hands as you dig. Fun. Although I was slathered in sunblock, where my shirt and pants parted company on my back, from the bending over, a bright red stripe was painted at the end of the day. I hadn't thought of that.


This is where roses used to be planted, before the Rose Rosette Disease struck. Now it is a field of annuals.

Don't know what this is, but it's just like a firework.

 

Leopard-spotted coreopsis, I think.

 

Calendula with friend.

The norther perimeter bed of the rose garden is a riot. The white Allium nigrum are yellowing as they set seed, while the purple drumsticks are in full swing. Echinacea are opening up, their burgundy buds mimicking the castor plants (Ricinus communis) in the background, growing tall...The silvery blue clary sage (Salvia sclarea) flowers are huge, about five feet, so different from late April, when they were large, flat, prostrate leaves.


The late-blooming drumstick alliums, Allium sphaerocephalon, are a bee magnet. I have never seen so many bees. No honey bees, though...

Bee ballet.

 

Bee orgy.

 

And then this little pollinator, who appears to bee impersonating someone.