Twin Oaks in June

We planted these two magnolias in our front yard many years ago.  They are separated by a maple that we also planted, some time later.  They offered many fragrant blossoms beginning in late May and lasting all the way through June. 

We have planted four magnolias on our property through the years.  The first one was in the back of the house.  My mother gave it to us.  It was small, maybe two feet high when I dig a hole and planted it.  I kept it watered it its budding years with a five-gallon drip bucket.  

Years later we planted three magnolias in our front yard down by the road.  Two of them have really thrived and are now close to twenty feet tall.  The third one was planted nearby, all were planted on the same day.  They form a triangular relationship.  But the third one has grown poorly, though it is healthy for its size.  The soil is just poorer in that spot of ground.

Nevertheless, the magnolias started putting out their gigantic sweet blooms at the end of May and they are still going strong as we head into July.  We can most likely thank the warm and wet winter/spring for that.  

Overall, the woods sort of settle down about this time of year.  Not much change in them until autumn.  The grass starts to feel the heat.  But regular small rains have kept everything green and happy going into summer.

The third magnolia that we planted at the same time as the other two.  Obviously it is stunted despite being healthy.  I attribute it to how bad the soil is in this particular part of my property.  But it serves its primary purposes which is to help block the view of our neighbor's house.  You will notice a dying shrub to the left.  It has been that way for years but is certainly not holding up as well as the magnolia.

A fourth magnolia that I planted right after we built our house.  It was given to me by my mother.  I watered it extensively when it was much smaller.  Now it is the largest magnolia at Twin Oaks.  But it is surrounded by a rich assortment of bushes and smaller trees which makes it impossible to photograph from outside.  But you can walk under the shade of it canopy and admire it what way.

A marvelous magnolia blossom.

A closer look a the bulb inside the flower.  You can see individual grains of pollen on it.

A typical sweet blossom just as it is opening.

A day or so later it opens up entirely and is explosively fragrant.

One blossom is past its prime while another bulb awaits to burst forth.

A bee feasts on a bulb, collecting pollen as a side-effect.

Initially in June almost every new thing that flowers is white.  Here is some Queen Anne's lace near our nandina. 

Chameleon plant by our hot tub.

The Savannah Holly next to our driveway on a foggy morning in early June.  This one is surrounded by Oakleaf hydrangea. 

Oak leaf hydrangea blooms multiple white flowers. 

The flowers gradually turn pink as the month goes on.

This is another Oakleaf hydrangea in our back yard.

Yarrow.

Another hydrangea of some sort. (?) 

Close-up of Queen Anne's Lace with a bug on it.

Lots of critter action in June.  Here's one of several rabbits I've seen this year.  We have not had many rabbits in recent years so it is nice to see more of them in 2020..

Not pretty but nevertheless part of living in the country.  A beetle rolls a dung ball across our driveway.

Another offering in the not-so-pretty department.  A field rat in our bushes.

A rat snake.  This is a good snake to have around though most folks have no intelligence about such things.  Snakes are always evil.  Another absurdity we can probably thank Christianity for.

We have at least three does hanging out in our forest.  This is one of them.

A pileated woodpecker.  I saw a pair of them several times during June but they usually flew away before I could get a photo.  I snapped this one just as the other had flown away.  It only lingered for a moment.  I enjoy hearing some of their wild calls echoing through the canopy of the woods.

If you look closely at the base of the two magnolias at the top of this post you will notice that my needle grass simply flopped over during June.  This due to a combination of it growing taller than usual this year and putting out large husky seed heads.  Combined with a couple of heavy thunderstorms, these features caused it to collapse without dying.  That made it more difficult to mow but I cut around the middle of the month leaving parts of my front yard looking like a hay field after the bales were gathered.  I mulch everything when I mow so all the seeds were cut and driven directly into the ground for next year.  Part of the joy of country living is knowing that what you do today pays off next spring.  Those who never experience nature with that expansive sense of time live impoverished lives.

A thistle.  Pretty but highly invasive.  They will take over everything quickly if you let them go to seed.  I cut this one down and threw it out in the garbage a couple of days after I took this shot.

A bumble bee enjoying the flowering thistle head.

Passion vine.  A ton of this stuff volunteered in our rock garden this year.

A closer view reveals the extraordinary beauty of the flower...and a small critter enjoying to pollen on a stamen. 

Velvet cloak smoke tree.  This is a gigantic bush up near our pole barn.

A later blooming Asiatic Lily.

Native butterfly bush in the barnyard.

Run of the mill polk salad is everywhere on our property this time of year.

Colorful Larkspur.

Creeping thyme. We planted a lot of this last year just above the rock garden.  I had to keep it watered all last summer.  This spring is really leaped and grew and a rate seemingly more than mere "creeping."

Bee Balm.

Trumpet vine grew prolifically all along the road in front of our house this June.  It was the first time it had ever been so plentiful.

You can see why they call it trumpet vine.  These bloom look ready to proclaim something.

Blackeyed Susans burst forth late in the month.

A herald of summer.

Highlights:  Sweet, sweet magnolias.  An explosion of white everywhere early in the month.  Our trumpet vine has never looked better.  A lot more deer action but still not like past years since Kudo is prowling around.  Spotted a pair of woodpeckers on several occasions.  The rock garden starts to really shine.  The heat and humidity rise as the sweet fragrances of spring fade.  Lightning bugs emerge.  We had our first katydid on the summer solstice.