The flowers in my garden in June this year have blown me away – so much so that I decided to devote a special post to them! Undoubtedly, the lily takes the prize with its mesmerizing beauty, subtle fragrance, and splendid colors.
Lily
Last year, I planted five of these plants after root division and three of them are bearing flowers, while two are yet small. Each time I go into my garden, the lilies beckon! Definitely the flower of the month.
A close second comes the Rose of Sharon. Last year, my friend Utiyama-san presented me with a small potted plant. The same plant has grown to about a meter in height in the planter and has given me the first beautiful Rose of Sharon.
Rose of Sharon
This is one of my favorite flowers – like the cherry blossom, I love the delicate pink in white. I have another variety of the Rose of Sharon with dark red at the center. The first flower is yet small and others are in the bud stage.
Next on my list of favorites is the peanut blossom – quite different from the rest of the crowd, like a butterfly in flight. Judge for yourself.
Peanut blossom
I found a small begonia in a planter along with other flowers and had carefully taken it out, planted it in its own planter and forgot about it. Suddenly, the flowers have bloomed and the plant has caught my attention.
Begonia
The beauty of the Okra blossom never ceases to astound me! Here is a one that has appeared in all its glory to give way to a delicious Okra within a few days.
Okra blossom
My perennial favorite, the Hydrangea also has a place in this special edition of June blooms. I’m wondering whether I should change the acidity of the soil around this plant and observe whether the color changes!
Hydrangea
Is this for real? Did somebody make an origami out of shiny paper? There’s beauty even in an eggplant blossom (and yes, that’s the roof of my house in the background, so you can predict which direction the flower faces) .
Eggplant blossom
I bought seeds of the Balsam in India and planted these in spring. The first flowers are up. The peculiarity of this plant is that the flowers seem to be blooming from the bottom first, so they tend to get covered up by the leaves. The shape is of this flower is rather extraordinary – some of the plants give pink and some red flowers.
Balsam
I also retrieved a small begonia uncared for in a Yesterday, today, and tomorrow planter and transplanted it into its own pot. This one has yielded a beautiful pink begonia, as if to thank me for giving it a new home.
Pink begonia
Lastly, here are blooms of the Soapwort in my herb garden. Pink seems to be the catchword this June for my garden. Lush leaves of the Yarrow are in the background.
Soapwort
Until the next post (which is not far away), happy gardening to all my viewers!
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Japanese Garden 
Wow Gururaj, you have some very beautiful flowers! Adding so many colors and lots of joy to your garden I am sure 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Sandy. Yes, June is a delightful month for flowers in my garden.
Lovely garden and your photos are much appreciated. I would LOVE to ask you a few questions about your square foot garden. I’m in Shizuoka and am just about to start building one. However, the farmers in my neighbourhood cannot seem to answer my questions about the soil and the basics of planting.
If you could answer a few short questions, I would be very appreciative. Thanks in advance and keep blogging! Your work is quite inspiring!
Rob in Shizuoka
Sure! Fire away. If your questions are within my ken, I’ll be happy to answer them.
What beautiful photographs. I didn’t realise that a peanut had a flower like that. I’ve learnt something new! Thank you. Val
Thanks for stopping by, Valeri. Yes, peanuts are a first for me too and I was surprised at the shape of the flower. Like you, I too am learning something new everyday from my garden.
The Rose of Sharon is gorgeous! I haven’t seen one like that around here.
BTW, I like this new blog layout. Very nice!
Thanks Denise. I have another variety of Rose of Sharon – white with crimson streaks in the middle. These are still in the bud stage but should be in time for the next post.
Thanks, Denise for your comments. Watch out for my next post – I’ll have another kind of Rose of Sharon in my next post. Have a nice day!
Hi Gururajr, the lily indeed takes the prize but the other blooms are no less!! The egg-plant bloom almost looks like a clematis!! Your photos are stunning. Those delicate pinks are really beautiful. I’ve never seen peanut blooms before…I’m glad I came by today. Your photos are incredibly gorgeous!
Thank you so much! I’m happy to share the pleasure these flowers have given with others such as yourself. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to reading your blog too and seeing nostalgic photos!
Really lovely pictures and a great blog too!
Thanks for stopping by and for your comment, Charlotte.
Ah, you lily is beautiful. Those red fragrant ones are my favorite, I planted a few bulbs in June, I wonder how long it will take. I’ve heard of balsam, but I’ve never grown it, are the flowers fragrant? Everything is so pretty!
Thanks, Lzyjo. I love the lilies because of their fragrance. Hope to grow more of these and roses too next year. I planted several rose cuttings this year and they have rooted! I bought some Balsam seeds in India last February and tried them out as companion plants to the veggies. No, they are not fragrant. The flowers come in various colors and are partially hidden as the leaves shoot up dominantly.
I was amused to see that we share a lot of plants. I’ve got the red begonia too and the Rose of Sharon. And, of course, the red double-petalled balsam.
Your okra plant looks so healthy! How do you keep the bugs away?
Thanks for stopping by, Sunita. Yes, one of the reasons could be that I picked up a lot of flower and vegetable seeds during my last visit to India in February and have planted them here – these include Balsam, Aster, ridge gourd, and carrot.
I don’t have many bugs on okra, carrot, beans, eggplant, yam, and most vegetables, probably because I planted neem sticks in the soil when I sowed the seeds. I had plenty of worms on my cabbage leaves – I picked them up using chopsticks but couldn’t keep up with them so I use a tunnel now to keep the white butterfly from laying eggs on the cabbage leaves. By the way, nice photos of Kerala. Those jackfruits are nostalgic!
Hey, if that’s Okra, I want some too! Great pics!
The Hydrangea looks like a macrophylla variety that I have used in acidic soil and the colors are about the same. Buds a deep blue that open in a light blue / white. My guess is you won’t see a change in the color by amending your soil.
Thanks for stopping by and for your response. You are probably right. I have taken cuttings, and I’ll experiment on them in a planter.
beautiful! the sight of the flowers makes the heart bloom.