How does your garden grow?
If there were only one month of the year any of us could spend in the floral garden, I'm sure most of us would choose June. This is the garden at its best: fresh, green growth filling out every surface and creating a beautiful, lush backdrop to the stars of the season: the rose. (My favourite flower.) Ground roses, shrub roses, climbers and ramblers, so floriferous that obelisks, trellises and arbors drip with buds, and blooms spill over in abundance.
In Niagara, we're lucky to have excellent conditions for beautiful gardens. So many different flowers are blooming at their peak in June that it feels overwhelming to name them all. The start of the month sings with herbaceous peonies, irises, lupins and clematis. As the month progresses, lavender plants become popular gathering spots for pollinators and on hot, dry days, they release a puff of perfume into the air when one brushes against them.
Few things in the garden are more romantic than delicately dangling foliage and roses dripping down all around you from branches above.
Spaces such as these are even more precious for being ephemeral. It's a reminder to us all to appreciate this moment. It's no surprise that the more time we spend in these green spaces, the better we feel.
The lovely thing is, there are many ways to spend more time in the garden. Cultivate the habit of visiting your plants after you wake up. Make a cup of your favourite beverage and bring it outside. This gives you the chance to catch those special morning moments that you'd otherwise miss: the hummingbird visiting your crocosmia or larkspur. The sound and sight of bumble bees on your allium or lavender. Butterflies flittering about and pollinators on your snow pea blossoms. Or, your neighbour's cat tangled up in your tree branches!
Gardens are a place of plenty. They offer us so much, including a space of calm and a fountain of inspiration. This makes them wonderful places in which to write, draw and paint. Do you keep a gratitude journal or enjoy sketching? June in the garden is a great place to enjoy these nourishing activities.
We hope this issue provided you with a little peace and beauty in your day. In this fast-paced world, we all benefit from getting still and taking a breath.
We also wanted to thank you for attending our anniversary sale event last week. It's always a joy to see familiar and new faces in the shop.
