How is your garden growing? Things are looking pretty lush and beautiful here in New Jersey. Wait until you see what’s blooming in my Jersey garden in early summer.
When you think of New Jersey, do think of the turnpike,The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Jersey Shore, or The Sopranos?
Where I live it’s nothing like you see on TV.
I live in a small rural suburban community in northwest New Jersey, hardiness zone 6a.
We live an hour from NYC, an hour from the Poconos, and an hour from the Jersey Shore.
It’s so pretty where I live and we get to experience all four seasons during the year.
When the temps and humidity increase here in New Jersey, I stop planting and focus more on maintaining what’s here.
It’s just too hot to establish new plantings, so it’s best to put energy into maintaining summer gardens.
From watering to weeding to pest and disease control, now is the time to slow things down and focus on what you have.
As we enter July, there are lots of changes happening in my Jersey garden.
In spring, my gardens displayed lots of pinks, blues and purples.
But as we head into the heat of summer, my cottage gardens explode with yellows, oranges, and reds.
Wait until you see what’s blooming in my Jersey garden this month.
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Welcome to My Jersey Garden in Early Summer Tour
I’m so glad you enjoy walking my zone 6a gardens with me every month.
It’s one of my most favorite things to do.
I love sharing what’s blooming with you, but also enjoy chatting about how the gardens are growing and changing through the seasons.
We toured my early spring garden a few months ago and chatted about the bulbs I planted in fall.
And my gardens have changed so much since last month’s garden tour.
Wait until you see how different they look!
My Front Yard Cottage Garden
This growing season is a great one for blooms.
My roses put on quite a show this season.
I recently pruned the roses to deadhead spent blooms.
Some areas I just deadheaded, and others I pruned a little further back.
Now that the rose blooms are in a lull, the border looks a little more green and lush.
But the orange blooms from my butterfly weed, yellow flowers from moonbeam coreopsis and dahlias are kicking up the heat in the front yard garden.
Oh and speaking of butterfly weed, I’m starting to see lots of butterflies, are you?
If not, here is a great list of plants to attract them to your garden.
My shasta daisies are blooming.
They were falling over from some of the rains so I needed to stake them up.
The oak leaf hydrangea started flowering.
And I’m exited to report, that for the first time ever, the hollyhocks I planted last year returned and are preparing to bloom.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to plant hollyhocks with zero success.
But for whatever reason, they came back after planting them last year.
So the lesson learned is…don’t ever give up.
I hope they drop lots of seed and self-sow so they return every year to my cottage garden.
The delphiniums I planted last year looked gorgeous until a storm knocked them over while we were in Vermont.
I staked them, but they were never really the same.
Note to self: support the delphiniums early next year.
THESE are my favorite plant supports btw.
They are easy to use and work really well.
Gardening in New Jersey can be a challenge because we don’t always have consistent weather.
One day it can be hot and humid.
The next cool and chilly with a windy rain.
So it’s best to be prepared for anything.
While the garden transitions from spring to summer, I’ve been deadheading flowers to promote more blooms.
A neat tip I learned from Linda Vater is to leave old baskets in the garden to collect weeds and garden debris on the fly.
Isn’t that a great idea?
So next time you are out thrifting or at a garage sale, grab those baskets and leave them in your garden!
The Well Garden
This garden started after we remodeled our home and had to relocate our well 5 feet to satisfy new code requirements.
Sigh.
Since the yard was dug up and there was brand new well equipment in the front yard, my husband looked at me and said, “this would be a great place to start a new garden.”
So I did.
Originally, I started the garden to hide the well equipment.
Then it became more of a holding area for plant divisions and new plants that I bought but didn’t know what to do with.
This garden was a little unorganized are started looking messy.
But then a few years ago, I started focusing on giving it a purpose.
Making it a little larger to house some roses and other flowers for a cutting garden.
And now, it’s really come along.
One of my favorite plants in this garden is smoke tree.
In early spring, I cut it back hard every year to keep sized down which means I don’t get the smoky blooms.
And I’m OK with that because I grow this plant more for the foliage anyway.
I mean, look at how it pairs with my orange daylilies! It really picks up that purple hue in the center of the flowers.
My Backyard Jersey Garden
The backyard borders look so gorgeous right now.
They are looking so lush and really filling in.
One night, we had the most gorgeous sunset so I snapped this amazing photo of my hostas and willow.
Don’t they look spectacular?
The sky was so incredible that night.
I stood further back just to snap this angle of my knockout roses and raised garden beds with the backyard border.
Do you see the viburnum blooms in the back border too?
It was truly a magical evening.
With the roses finishing up their first set of flowers and preparing for the next, my everblooming hydrangeas just started blooming.
And they are having a spectacular year!
After a few years of lackluster or almost no blooms, this growing season the blooms are big, beautiful and prolific.
I’m going to start cutting some for arrangements.
Have you ever noticed that hydrangea blooms droop a few hours after cutting?
HERE are two ways to keep fresh cut hydrangeas from drooping.
And I can’t wait to dry hydrangea flowers later in the season.
There are a few ways to do it, but this is THE EASIEST method.
Wait Until You See My Cutting Garden by the Shed
Do you guys remember when I started seeds indoors without a greenhouse and added this pretty picket fence around the shed?
I am proud to say that I started a pretty garden in my basement greenhouse.
And let me tell you, the plants are doing AMAZING!
The zinnias are blooming.
The cosmos started flowering.
The sweet peas are still climbing, look healthy and will hopefully flower soon.
My snapdragons and larkspur are starting to bloom.
Even the iceland poppies that I wasn’t sure would transplant well are blooming.
It’s really very exciting!
Looking back, I definitely started too many flowers from seed. LOL!
But I’d rather have more than less to plant. Am I right?
I wound up giving some away to friends so it all worked out.
Oh and those little terracotta pots that are sitting on top of stakes?
They are not ornamental.
I added them to the tops of the 4ft green stakes so my eyes can see the stakes when I’m working in the garden.
This will prevent me from poking my eye out.
So, if you add stakes like these, include a topper to them will help keep yourself safe from harm.
And now that this garden is filling in and blooming?
I made my first cut flower arrangement of the season.
Isn’t she beautiful?
I love the vintage flower look.
My Vegetable and Herb Garden in My Raised Garden Beds
With the ebbs and flows of summer weather, my jersey garden holds up pretty well throughout the growing season overall.
Do you remember when I first started my new vegetable garden?
My new self-watering raised garden beds are doing amazing!
We’ve been harvesting lettuce and herbs like crazy.
But now that the season is transitioning to hotter, more humid temps, the lettuce and cilantro are starting to bolt.
So we are harvesting what we can.
And I’m letting the cilantro and arugala flower.
I’ve heard it encourages caterpillars, so we’ll see what happens!
The Outdoor Living Spaces in My Jersey Garden
Did you catch my outdoor living space home tour a few weeks ago?
My container gardens are still doing really well.
The colocasia I planted is finally taking off.
Although one side is growing quicker than the other.
Most likely due to it receiving a little bit more sun than the other.
I needed to prune some of the annuals a little because the growth was getting out of control and looking unkept.
But overall, everything looks so beautiful and I’m really happy with how the gardens turned out this year.
Thank you so much for dropping by my gardens today.
I hope you enjoyed touring it as much as I enjoyed sharing it.
Happy Gardening!
Summer Gardening Ideas
- The Basics of Deadheading Flowers
- Mosquito Repellent Plant List
- How to Release Ladybugs in the Garden
- How to Care For Plants While On Vacation
- The Best Summer Blooming Flowers
- 7 Ways to Keep Deer From Eating Your Garden Plants
Come See What’s Happening in My Friends’ Gardens
I love to drop by and see what’s growing in my friends’ gardens across the nation.
Let’s drop by and see what’s happening in their gardens.
My good friend Mary from Life at Bella Terra is harvesting seeds from her garden.
She shares some great tips for best practices.
And my friend Chas from Chas Crazy Creations shared some easy DIY plant care tips that are so helpful this time of year!
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Enjoy your day! xoxo
