The Month of June

June is bustin’ out all over!

All over the meadows and the hills!

- Rogers and Hammerstein from “Carousel”

Summer is finally here with the beginning of June. No matter what the calendar says, to me June is the first month of summer.  June is the month of graduations and/or open houses honoring the graduates. It’s the month when children and teachers start their summer vacations. It’s the month that’s very popular for weddings, and why shouldn’t it be with so much that is blooming now.

Clematis & other flowers where Chickadees nest.

Some interesting facts about June: In the Georgian calendar, the one that most of the world uses, June is the 6^th month. However according to the early Roman calendar, June was actually the 4^th month, and only had 29 days. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar gave June 30 days instead of 29 when he reformed the Roman calendar. June was named after the Roman goddess June, who is the wife of Jupiter. However, others say that its name actually came from the Latin word juniors. It means the younger ones, which is opposed to majors or elders which May’s name was originated from. In June spring ends and summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere. During this time all the flowers and plants are very beautiful. In the southern hemisphere, winter begins in June.

Roses and clematis on arbor leading to gardens in my side yarsd

Some fun facts about June: The birthstones for June are the pearl, alexandrite and moonstone. The birth flower for June is the rose – which is why my first book, The Blue Rose takes place in June.

On June 1, 1792, the state of Kentucky, also known as the Bluegrass State, became the 15^th state of the United States. Also on June 1, 1796, Tennessee, also known as The Volunteer State became the 16^th state of the United States. On June 14, 1900, Hawaii was organized as a territory. 

On June 14, 1777, the flag of the United States was adopted by the Continental Congress. June is the month we celebrate Flag Day. On June 15, 1836, Arkansas also known as the Natural State, became the 25^th state of the United States.

June is National Candy Month, National Dairy Month, and National Iced Tea Month, and I’m sure there are other things that declare June as their national month, too, if I’d dug deep enough to find out what they are. There are a lot of other June facts, too, if you want to Google June Facts, you can read about them.

It’s Father’s Day on June 19^th this year. My father died a little over twenty seven years ago, and I still miss him as do all my siblings and the people who knew him. Warm, friendly, with a great sense of humor and highly intelligent, he was a role model for all of us including some of his nieces and nephews.

One of my many rhododendrons

June is more than just the days that are important in June. For me it’s when the rhododendrons come in full bloom, as well as the roses, clematis, irises, foxgloves and so many other flowers. More and more butterflies arrive and birds are busy feeding their youngsters, and the hummingbirds make frequent trips to my hummingbird feeder.

My old guinea fowl patrolling my weedy gardens

Like the song, June is busting out all over not just in flowers, but also with weeds and lawns that need almost constant mowing. I still have to plant the dahlias and canna rhizomes and bulbs that I wintered over, and some more vegetable seeds to plant because of a cold and wet spring that put me behind. I’m hoping by the time this blog is up, all the flats of flowers I bought will already be planted. Will all my weeding be done? Ha!!!! It would take three full time gardeners to handle that. Have I mentioned before that I’m an incurable optimist who always takes on more than one person can handle? I get lectured on this often by one of my daughters and one of my sisters, too. But “I yam what I yam,” said Popeye the Sailor Man, and that’s true for me, too.

What do you like most about June?