JUNE

Steps from the lower garden to the upper garden.

At least in part, June can be low in humidity before the Dog Days of summer begin on July 3rd.

The dog days of summer fall between July 3 and August 11, when we have our warmest days in the Northern Hemisphere. Ancient Greeks and Romans noticed that the star Sirius—the dog star, Canis major in the Orion constellation—began to rise with the sun shortly after the summer solstice. While this is often the hottest summer time, and publications like the Farmer's Almanac placed the dog days as occurring between July 3 and Aug. 11 each year, Sirius doesn't rise and set with the sun until mid-August.

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More clean up in the Bee Better Teaching Garden. I hosted three events in May.

1) A luncheon with my good friends, Kate and Robin. It was Robin’s birthday.

Lily Ana Philbrook at her graduation party.

2) Lily’s graduation party with her MA in Sociology from ECU.

3) My dearest friend Genya’s 60th birthday party.

All were fun!

It’s nice opening the garden for events, assuming one can stay on track getting ready. Spring can be busy without the pressure of garden parties, but it also lets one get the garden ready for the summer and go to the beach!

A beautiful plant, highly invasive! I removed it all!

April 5th, Lady Bank’s Rose on the gazebo!

Gazebo does double duty. May 15, Confederate Jasmine on the Gazebo.

**Gazebo Corner—**The variegated petisites were running rampant. At first, I thought digging them out would be a bear, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It did require a pickaxe, though. It was fun for several years, a plant that added a lot of interest. Others would share with me how invasive it was, but …

**The Epimedium Patch**—What I find interesting is that the rabbits eat one plant and not the others.

The Wildflower Patch Extension—

The Wildflower Patch—

**The Southside—**Finally hung the crossbeam for the native honeysuckle vine to trellis.

The Ostrich Fern Garden

.The Front Fountain Garden—The Japanese Glass Floats are stealing the show!

**The Food Forest—**The new raised beds are flourishing! Finally took down the last of the poppies. Once the gold finch have finished the seed, it’s time to remove the stalks.

**The Parterre—**The creeping thyme is in bloom and filling it. The goal is to have each section fill in the entire space.

I cut down a cherry tree at the mailbox that volunteered there. Since it was a host butterfly, I kept it, but it kept growing and growing and growing. It has been cut to the ground now. I’m sure I will see stump growth! I’m glad it’s gone.