Marine layer or not, summer's on its way

In the US, Memorial Day, which fell on May 29th this year, marks the unofficial start of summer.  Although our persistent marine layer and the cooler temperatures that accompanied it may suggest otherwise, the evidence provided by my garden indicates that we're already on the cusp of summer. 

Achillea 'Moonshine' is one sign of summer in my garden.  Those blooms have already hit their stride.

I consider it summer when the first Agapanthus bloom appears.  Buds have popped up all over my garden.  Clumps in 2 areas are shown here.

Evidence that we're getting very close

My Renga lilies (Arthropodium cirratum) generally appear in early summer.  They've burst into bloom en masse throughout my garden within the past 2 weeks.

Last year, when spring conditions were far drier and temperatures were warmer, I potted up dahlia tubers in mid-March and waited months for them to sprout.  This year, I potted them up in late April and they were sprouting within a couple of weeks, even though our temperatures have remained on the cool side.  At last count 20 had sprouted.  Many are ready to move to larger quarters.

Daucus carota 'Dara' has produced its first flowers from seed

Gazanias are suddenly blooming like gangbusters too.  Last year, a couple Gazania 'Gold Flame' seeded themselves in the succulent bed on the northeast side of my garden so I added a few additional plugs.  They must have enjoyed the extra rain because the clumps have grown huge.  I'm hunting for more plugs so I can continue the theme in the newer section of the bed (shown lower left).

I've yet to plant sunflower or zinnia seeds but I picked up a Helianthus 'Sunbelievable Brown-Eyed Girl' shrub a month ago and it's already jumped into gear

The daylilies are getting their season started.  Shown on the right are the first blooms of Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' (top) and 'For Pete's Sake' (bottom).

The first Hesperaloe parviflora 'Brakelights' bloom stalks have appeared

The Orienpet lilies are well on their way too

Of course, the new arrivals are appearing as other plants move on.  I pulled out the last zillion Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' this week as their flowers faded.  I've cleared out most of the foliage of Amaryllis belladonna as it died back - the "naked lady" flowers should appear in July or August.  Meanwhile, a combination of mildew and rust is quickening the removal of the cool season flowers in my cutting garden, most of which got started very late this year.  And then, the local critter cleanup crew is also hard at work as shown below.

Last year, I noticed that critters were removing the mature flowers of Leucospermum 'High Gold', leaving a mess in plain sight  I hadn't noticed any activity of that sort this year - until I walked down the dirt path between the back border and the hedge and discovered the debris shown in the bottom row of this collage.

Yesterday, I caught sight of my prime suspect from the living room through a dirty window pane

I picked up a telephoto lens and headed outside for a clearer view and there he was, holding the evidence in his mouth

Much as I love all the summer blooms, I always feel a tinge of loss as the spring flowers move on.  However, I expect I'll feel better in a few weeks when the summer flowers are in full swing.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party