We’ve had a string of soggy, overcast days. June is a magic month in the gardens so there were so many Flowers to enjoy in between showers.

Here’s a Sarah Bernhardt peony blossoming amongst the Cranesbill Geranium.

I spent time in the drizzle weeding various gardens. As I finished hauling away my piles of weeds at dusk, the skies cleared. making for a beautiful moment.

As I battled crab grass and bindweed, a staff of experts tried to help Jim with his Facebook account. The verdict? Don’t expect any wall posts from Jim any time soon.

Sarah Van Fleet Rose, a wonderful Flower Essence for soothing frayed nerves.

A honeybee departs from John Cabot Rose, one of the climbing Roses in our Sacred Masculine combination remedy. Speaking of bees, we had a swarm last week- Usually with a swarm we have to suit up and scoop the whole swarm into a box, hoping we manage to move the new Queen into the hive box with our scooping- This swarm made things easy for us. The scout bees sent out to find a new home for their new Queen moved her right into an empty hive box in the potting shed. Once they had settled in, all we had to do was wait until the hive quieted down at dusk then move it next to our three other hives on the south side of the GHF office.

Cardinal de Richelieu Rose whose Flower Essence offers vital support for taking back what is rightfully ours. A key ingredient in All Ego Contracts Null and Void.

The incomparable Madame Hardy Rose which is a pillar of strength in our Grief and Loss combination remedy.

I can’t get enough of the magic of Alchymist Rose.

On another note, here you can see the last of the annuals right before they got planted yesterday morning. Sometimes its almost July when I get all the plants from the greenhouse and cold frames into the ground, so that was a good moment. Now all the gardens are officially planted, and we can turn our attention to weeding and deadheading and, of course, smelling the Roses and the Peonies and the Mock Orange and the Sweet William and the……….

This growing season the women working in the gardens wanted me to take a pledge that I would let them veto any photos I wanted to post on the blog. I am sure this is exactly the kind of shot they are talking about with a nameless someone’s rear in the air and someone else identifiable only by a calf muscle-

I would post something else, but I only remembered to pick up my camera once yesterday. And I only remembered because I thought you might enjoy seeing this year’s Red Shiso spiral begin to appear as we prepared the soil before seeding.

Perhaps I can slip this photo by my censors and face their wrath later. Maybe with all the other rogue photos on places like Facebook, none of them will notice this picture.

Hope springs eternal, especially here.

Here at the farm, Memorial Day weekend is all about planting. With shovels and planting charts, wheelbarrows and baby plants we celebrate that its finally the moment when it is safe to plant out the frost sensitive plants.

We started late last week by putting in the more cold tolerant brassicas, leeks, and parsley.

Then Emily and Katherine, a friend of Emily who has come to spend her summer here, spent yesterday morning weeding in preparation for planting out the more frost sensitive plants like tomato and basil. Note garden assistant Riley has gotten his summer clip. MayMay seems to have decided to forgo the trim. Maybe another heat wave like last week will change her mind.

While right now the transplants occupy a weed free zone, weeding is going to be a serious preoccupation here this summer. The Angels asked us to forgo our deep mulch system this summer. This is something we’ve used to enrich the soil and keep down the weeds for the last twenty seasons. While there are many reasons for this direction, one reason for the different approach is to lessen our slug population. You may recall that the slug situation was so bad last year we had to protect each Red Shiso plant with its own plastic cup. Without the mulch, our hoes are going to become our steady companions!

Yesterday afternoon saw us transplanting those tender vegetables as well as many Flowers that have been waiting in the cold frames and greenhouse. The transplants always look a bit limp and scraggly when first planted. It doesn’t help that its been very dry. We’ve had to work hard to keep the transplants watered, but today a wonderful rain is falling on all that we planted and this job is being done for us!

Tomorrow we will plant the Red Shiso then plant more Flowers and vegetables. The greenhouse is completely empty, but the cold frames still hold a lot of babies waiting for our attention.

Amidst all this, we still visit with Agnes Rose. In the last few days many more Roses, Peonies and Iris have joined her in the gardens. Next time it’s sunny, I will take more photos to post of all the blooming beauties. Such a magic, beautiful and BUSY time of year!