"And since all this loveliness cannot be heaven
I know in my heart it is June".

Abba Woolson

It is the time of the Iris, out in the garden

and they are really quite beautiful

The 10th of June and the garden is still a little slower than last

year, but the plants have been loving this cooler weather and  are growing

quite stupendously, vigorous and green and bursting with energy.

The peonies are heavy with buds and in the last few days the first of the 

beautiful rich blooms have opened and I smell their perfume as I walk the

garden path or clear my way through the beautiful green jungle that the garden is becoming.

Words from Vita Sackville West

"It always seems to me that the herbaceous peony is the very epitome of June.  Larger than any rose it has something of the cabbage
  roses voluminous quality; and when it finally drops from the vase, it sheds its petticoats with a bump on the table, all in an intact heap, much as a rose will suddenly fall, making us look up from our book or conversation, to notice for one moment the death of what had still appeared to be a living beauty."  

I walk in the cool of the morning and the fragrance of the evening

and all around me new blooms are calling to the bees

with great exuberance.

a work in progress along the lane

I am watching for the pretty pink prairie princess to cover herself with flowers

in time for Pentecost

or perhaps a poppy or two will be out to lend their brightness

to the red hangings at the altar and the hovering scarlet helium balloons

tied to the pews.

Tomorrow should see a few canterbury bells, and maybe some delphinium.

And what is so rare as a day in June
Then if ever come perfect days.

James Russell Lowell