Stopping to Behold
I cupped a bodacious rose bloom a few days ago, deeply inhaling its heady perfume. Golden Celebration, Rosa ‘Ausgold,’ an English Shrub Rose with multiple petals, had captured me. Silently, it had beckoned me to come and adore its emerging buds and prolific blooms afresh with scents of Sauterne wine and strawberry.
Pausing, the warmth of its golden-yellow flowers saturating my eyes, I gazed into the intricacies of this late spring bloomer. Its beauty beheld me. Life’s busy demands went on without me as I stood enthralled by its exploding beauty, a bare, barren bush only a few months ago. As spring turns into summer, the liveliness of this transitional season begs me to pause and take notice.
Companion plants nearby expanded my gaze beyond the long, arching branches of the rose bush. Spires of blue delphinium, thick leaves of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ and ornamental grasses swayed in the light breeze. The heady perfume of distant cascading purple wisteria blooms wafted overhead. Beauty surrounds us and directs us to take notice and delight in its temporal seasonal show.
Beyond our surroundings, visits to local farmer’s markets, nurseries laden with tables of bedding plants, or a neighbor’s garden–all can be areas for being a keen observer and relishing in the season’s creativity.
More ideas to inspire this month:
- Visit local gardens on the 27th Annual West Seattle Garden Tour for Sunday, June 25th. Tickets are online at westseattlegardentour.org or at local nurseries.
- Visit public gardens and arboretums. Woodland Park Rose Garden (zoo.org), Washington Park Arboretum (botanicgardens.uw.edu), or PowellsWood Pleasure Garden (powellswood.org) are a few suggestions.
To do this month in the garden:
- Continue to sow successions of beans, carrots, and beets
- Transplant tomato, pepper, eggplant, tomatillo, and squash family starts in early June
- Prune and pinch off suckers on your tomato plants
- Sow flowers for late summer bloom. Flowers sown now will be at their peak in September.
- Keep up with the weeding
- Water consistently
- Order spring-flowering (fall-planted) bulbs.
Happy gardening,
Beth
