Flower Beds

When the weather turned uncomfortably warm at the beginning of June, I made the unpopular remark that I didn’t get enough winter. I stand by it and need to add that I didn’t get enough rain on Tuesday. The rest of eastern Massachusetts received inches, but I wonder if we have some sort of dome over us? Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for any. It’s been unusually dry for late spring. I wonder about many things int his life. It’s been so dry that many of the favorites are struggling. However, weeds just continue to thrive. Also, they tend to grow in plants that look like them.

Speaking of weeding, it’s not a garden task that I loathe. I’m perfectly content sitting on a bucket, scratcher in hand enjoying the day. One time Fred Fisher, the elder, told me that women were better than men when it came to weeding and singing. It still tickles me when I remember him.

I tend to leave both fleabane and golden rod to fill in empty spots in a flower bed. I’m fond of the shrub Saint John’s Wort. It has a cheerful yellow bloom right now that lasts until almost fall. Deer are, luckily for us, not fond of it. They also tend to leave the old fashioned orange day lilies alone. The fancy hybrids will have their buds eaten just before blooming.

I’m a big fan of lining vegetable garden beds with marigolds. Years ago, I adopted a burro who was captured in Death Valley. He was to keep the horse company. Let me admit that P.T. Barnum had it right “a sucker is born every minute!” He escaped on a regular basis and the first place he headed was to the vegetable garden, where he polished off the marigolds.

How I digress. In your travels, check out the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas at the entrance of down-Island Cronig’s; they are at their peak. Unlike the other varieties, they look good for three seasons. They have an interesting fall color, exfoliating bark and require much less fussing than the more widely used varieties. Last year, I seeded some Dara, a close relative to Queen Anne’s Lace. The flower umbral is a lovely pale pink. It works well as a filler in flower arraignments. Supposedly, it is biennial, but it behaves like a perennial. I’ve never seen it in the nurseries. I got the seed from Select Seed Company.

Harry Truman was president when I was born, so I’ve witnessed a number of U.S. Administrations. Until 2016, my least favorite commander-in-chief was the so-called “Great Communicator” Ronald Reagan. I know he is widely sainted in Republican circles, but he set the stage for many of our worst policies. He coined the derogatory “welfare queen” to turn folks against government assistance for the poor and marginalized. I think the biggest welfare queens are the huge corporations and, oh yeah, Elon Musk.

In light of our present situation in Iran let’s not forget Reagan’s campaign in 1980 sought out the Iranian right wing and promised support to them if they failed to release the hostages before the election to hurt the reelection chances of Jimmy Carter. I am still sour that he took the solar panels off the White House, but, hey, Big Oil still makes Big Bucks!

Check out the Jon Ossoff speech to Beulah Baptist Church in Atlanta.

This article appears in June 26, 2026.