The garden and the gardeners have been enjoying the cooler weather. The dahlias, in particular, are much happier if it is not blistering hot.

Everything we harvest this month is in abundance. A good example is blueberries. The bushes are loaded, so purchasing from outside vendors is unnecessary for a few weeks. We should have blueberries for a couple more weeks unless the temperatures soar to 100 degrees again.

The garden is full of life this time of year. The sunflowers alone are host to dozens of different pollinator species. The kitchen is soon to be the scene of massive harvests of everything.

This is one day’s worth of zucchini and patty pan squash. Consider this fair warning that the amount will only increase for several weeks. It might be prudent to lock your car doors as that is a favorite “hiding” place for extra zucchini, usually the boat-size zucchini.

The Garden is teetering on the brink of a plentiful harvest. The heavily laden Gypsy peppers in the photo will soon be ready for harvesting. They are the best bell-type peppers in our area, reliable and abundant producers.

The garden is looking like summer. We harvested the elephant garlic in the foreground of the photo.

The fiery red blooms of the crocosmia herald “Summer”! They are not edible for humans, but they do draw in hummingbirds. We started with just a couple of plants four years ago and liked them so much that now we have them in several places in the flowerbeds.

The first sunflower of the summer has officially opened just in time for the summer solstice. Summer is here!

This is the second season for the pollinator meadow and we are delighted to see a new array of flowers this year as the perennials are in full bloom. As we celebrate National Pollinator Week from June 17 – 22, we invite you to take a leisurely stroll through our pollinator meadow.

Our pollinator meadow is teeming with life. Gaillardia, native to much of North America and commonly known as blanket flower, attracts bees for the nectar.