Some June Ramblings

 The mermaid, contemplating the blurred foreground, Lebanon Cedar.  This works for me.

 The seahorse, among the ferns.  Think green sea, underwater colors... yeah I know.. its a stretch.

 The bees in my garden really like this plant: Perennial Bachelor Buttons, also known as Blue Cornflower, or Mountain Bluet. This species is low to medium in height and well suited to growing in the sunny border. Plants form a bushy clump of grey-green leaves, setting off a display of clear-blue shaggy flowers in early summer. Removing faded flower heads will encourage repeat blooming. Ruggedly hardy, this plant will grow in most types of soils and climate regions. May self-seed prolifically, so keep an eye out for seedlings appearing where not wanted. Plants may be pruned back hard in mid-summer to maintain a compact habit. Nice for cutting.

 Tradescantia, or Spiderworte.  I also have a bright pink one of this interesting flower.  It does better if I give it sufficient water.

From my search on the internet, this seems to be a banded tussock moth caterpillar.  The moth is a plain light brown color.    It was on an outdoor mat at the time I took this photo.  I think it may have been looking for a place to make its cocoon.  I do have a photo of a cocoon I have often seen... will post it soon.  It is probably this moth's cocoon. 

I have been very busy in the garden this month. There has been much time spent weeding, watering, deadheading perennials, trimming hedges and renovating garden beds.  I have the thyme circle trimmed and looking good, in bloom.  I moved the bench further back in its hedge nook and set it on cement blocks.  So it is now much higher.  The legs that were in the ground have not rusted, I am happy to see.  I laid several layers of cardboard under it to cover the violets and smother them.  I am covering the cardboard with cedar hedge trimmings.  I have lots of this cedar hedge duff.  It turns a light brown color and will look good under the turquoise bench. 
The rhodos are about finished and the roses are full of blooms.  The alpines are all doing very well.  The pinks are in bloom, and the campanulas, too.  It is all looking nice, but there is more weeding and trimming to do.  The garden beds seem to be very dry, so I have been watering a lot.  I have not noticed any publications about water restrictions this year.