Garden bloggers bloom day: June 2013

Blue-eyed grass Sysirinchium montanum

I did not plant any of the flowers that bloom in my garden this month. I planted tomatoes, potatoes, onions, squash and melons, but they have yet to produce blossoms.

All our blooms are growing voluntarily in the uncut lawn. This week I was delighted to find one of my favourite wildflowers, blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinhium montanum). Not really a grass but a member of the iris family, it grows in prairies and meadows throughout much of North America. If ever I settle into a permanent garden of my own, blue-eyed grass is one of the first perennials I’ll seek to establish.

I have a soft spot for small, pretty things that are easily overlooked. Scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) also falls into the modesty category: tiny but what a colour! Native to Europe and Africa but now spread throughout much of the inhabited world, it is abundantly but unobtrusively naturalized in our yard.

Scarlet pimpernel Anagallis arvensis

Less demure but equally happy-making is this hawkweed, Hieracium sp.

Hawkweed Hieracium

These Leucanthemum ox-eye daisies might be vulgare, but Danny loves them, and it’s easy to sympathize with a riot of sunny faces.

ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare

For a huge virtual garden tour visit Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, which occurs on the 15th of every month.

2 thoughts on “Garden bloggers bloom day: June 2013

  1. I recognized blue-eyed grass from the photo but didn’t know it belongs to the Iris family. Very cool. Speaking of Iris, none of mine seem inclined to send up flower stalks but everyone else’s are going crazy despite the wet feet lately. Weird. I don’t think they’re overcrowded but I’ll try dividing and replanting.

    1. Sounds like you know lots of people who cultivate them, Joe. Here I saw some among native plants at a nursery once, but I’ve never seen them in anyone else’s garden. I’m glad you’re cultivating these little gems.

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