A Black Lace elderberry in the Kitchen Garden wears its pink blooms.
The pink flowers of Black Lace elderberries are used to make a delicate floral wine and elderflower water which is good for the complexion, but I don't use the berries of this variety of elder.
The berries of these lovely black/burgundy-leafed elders are a sickly, unappetizing green rendering them unsatisfactory for wine or jelly making. I suppose the green hybridized out of the leaves had to go somewhere so it went into the berries. An attractive plant in the landscape, these black elders take the place of Japanese maples in areas where soil and weather prevent successful growth.
John's and Adams elderberries are still in bud. Their pretty, white flowers will be allowed to mature into beautiful dark purple berries useful for making jellies, a healthful wine, and an immune enhancing syrup marketed under the name of "Sambucus", the botanical name for elderberries.
Early June brings on varied blooms as the flowers of May fade.
The unusually warm and windy conditions of Spring and early Summer shortened the blossoming time of most plants as the near daily winds withered and dried flowers and foliage.
In the Peace Garden, valerian blooms with its sweetly-scented, pale pink, flowers. Valerian is best known for its stinky root used as a mild sedative.
The large raised bed in the Kitchen Garden is coming along nicely with crops of beets, lettuce, onions, leeks, spinach, carrots, and tomatoes. Wax beans are, just now, about three inches tall and will soon climb the bamboo teepees.
The comfry herbs in the South Front Garden bloom with pink-violet, tubular flowers. The aerial parts of comfry make a healing tea beneficial to digestion and an inflammation-fighting and wound-healing skin oil.
White salsify (oyster plant), named for its pale root, is now blooming with its pink-through-shades-of-purple blooms.
Years ago I planted a small patch of white salsify for its mild-tasting white root reminicent of oysters. They have gradually spread into the flower borders where they are welcome for their pretty flowers - turning into baseball-sized puffs similar to dandelion poufs...on steroids!
Native to the area and also moving into the gardens is Black Salsify with its yellow blossoms. This salsify's dark-skinned roots are edible, too. Oddly, the two varieties of salsify don't cross pollinate, according to the USDA and other sources.
Soapwort (saponaria), here and there throughout the gardens, is still in bloom with its pretty pink flowers. Perhaps its low-growing habit keeps it sheltered from the wind.
Yellow yarrow is now blooming, although the medicinal white yarrow is still in bud. The catmint in the upper right portion of the photo is finished flowering and is now going to seed. I'll scatter the tiny black seeds in areas I want it to grow, market some on my etsy shop site (gailsgarden), and give others to friends who want these attractive, long blooming, weed-suppressing mints in their gardens.
In the Wild Garden outside the Cottage fence, torch lilies (knifophia) are now in bloom. Orioles and humingbirds sip the nectar from the numerous small flowers that compose the orange and yellow "torches".
Red centranthus blooms by an arbor in the South Front Garden. Through the arbor is a view of the herb bed in the Kitchen Garden where lovage stretches upward to over eight feet tall!
All around the Cottage there are hoses lying about so I can conveniently and quickly water between wind storms to refresh and rehydrate the gardens. If the winds ever abate I'll be able to coil up the hoses and water on my normal tri-monthly cycle.
A spontaneous flower bed - self-sown - softens the hard edges of the Block Barn. Elm branches downed last year were installed around the perimeter of this unexpected garden where bachelors buttons, poppies, flax, native day lilies (in bud when this photo was taken), and cloud tansy have made themselves at home. A few sunflowers will soon rise to full height but are presently hidden behind the other plants.
The tiny, daisy-like flowers of Cloud Tansy delight the heart and inhabit most of the gardens around the Cottage with their abundance. They even grow in the Back Garden where the Chicken Girls hang out! The Girls don't eat them so the Tansy are free to spread about.
Cloud Tansy looks more like Feverfew which has similar foliage and identical flowers. I wonder if they are related? The Cloud Tansy looks nothing like the old garden Tansy that was in the gardens when I moved into the Cottage.
This variety of milkweed has self-sown into the Cottage's gardens. It is loved by Swallow Tail butterflies which have followed the milkweed into the gardens, much to my delight!
The gardens are alive with flowers, emerging (still green) fruits, herbs, all manner of birds - humming birds, robins, orioles, doves, and finches of all types - to name just a few. I've seen a garter snake slithering through the moist, shaded parts of the garden on her insect-eating rounds.
Often a toad makes its presence known 'round about the property, too. I look forward to see each and every plant blooming and fruiting in its turn!
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Abundance is...a garden of varied delights!
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