I am LOVING the way the lobster house looks in June!
All those pink and purple flowers out front make me smile. Living in a house with lobsters crawling over it… It just seems so normal now.
Check out the dinner plate dahlias. Aren’t they pretty?
I have never grown dahlias before so I might need your help come fall when {I think} I’m supposed to dig them up and do something with them.
I wish I had room to plant more flowers!!
I’d dig up the whole backyard if the HH would let me. But then Lucy wouldn’t have anywhere to run around and well, that’s the whole reason we had a fence installed so that’s not going to happen.
The peonies are up next. It won’t be much longer now. I have zero plans to cut any peony flowers this year but maybe next year I’ll get a bouquet or two.
I started the peonies from roots last fall and I paid about $9 for each root. If I were to buy them as plants the size they are now, they would be $60 each!!
Can you believe it? The same row of peony roots I planted for $160 would be worth $960 + tax as potted plants! Crazy.
The French bush beans are up and looking good.
And so are the pole beans.
The radish seeds I planted two {?} weeks ago are up and ready to be thinned.
The zucchini, basil and pumpkin seeds I planted are also doing great as are the three tomato plants next to the trellises on the side yard.
The sugar snap peas I planted in my large pot next to the barn have flowers on them and my black krim tomato plant is really, really happy alongside them.
All in all, the front garden and the vegetables are loving the warmer days we’ve been having here in Maine lately.
Does anyone know what these lovely pink flowers are called?
I spotted them in a nearby yard and now I need to find a spot to put at least one plant. I just need to know what they’re called so I can pop by the nursery and grab one.
It’s finally summer at the Lobster House… And I’m loving it!
I hope you have a great day,
~Mavis
Silke says
Hi Mavis,
the plant must be a dotted/spotted bellflower(campanula punctata).
Best wishes Silke
Mavis Butterfield says
Thank you Silke!!! I am going to see if they have it at our local nursery. 🙂
Richelle says
Just get a start from your neighbor! My campanulas self-seeds.
Nancy Settel says
Oh Mavis the Lobster House is looking amazing and the flowers are beautiful. I have always done at each of our houses and pink, lavender and blue (hydranas). I have never done the alium (the big purple globe type flower you have) and oh my in those big clumps look amazing. I have loved seeing it come together.
Christa H. says
My dahlias are blooming too and I just cut some yesterday and made bouquets placed next to my kitchen sinks. Your yard looks great!
Yes- you will need to dig them up late fall, clean up and store the bulbs in a frost free dark place in something like peat to maintain some moisture.
Here in NC I leave mine in the ground and they always pop back up.
Meg C says
I can’t believe your dahlias are blooming already! They’re beautiful!
Did you grow them from bare tubers, or did you purchase them already started? I live in Northeast Ohio and my dahlias are only about ankle/mid-shin high right now. My dahlia “show” will be in late July – October. They are so worth the effort re: wintering them!
Your yard/garden is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Mavis Butterfield says
I bought them already started so I’ll have to dig them up in the fall. Hopefully they’ll do fine over winter {I might have to keep them in the house?}.
Meg C says
I overwinter mine in peat moss and store them in cardboard boxes. You can’t store them where they get a lot of light, they need to be in the dark. I keep them in our basement which stays a steady 65 degrees. Here’s a decent “how-to” link: https://www.americanmeadows.com/content/resources/dahlias/digging-storing-dahlias-for-winter
When spring comes, if all has gone well, they should each have little “nodes” on the tubers for spring planting success.
Alecia Loveless says
Hey Mavis,
I’ve been receiving your blog through email for several years now. But about a week and a half ago it stopped arriving in my inbox.
Is this still possible to receive it by email or did you change something?
Thanks!
Alecia
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m not sure why that happened but I just signed you back up! 🙂
Judi Y. says
Everything is so, so beautiful!!!!
Sue S. says
I didn’t think dahlias bloomed so early here in the northeast. I’m so impressed Mavis. You must be so thrilled and proud to have such a beautiful spot. Peonies here on the Cape are just about gone by and I didn’t have very many blooms – who knows why. My hydrangeas however are loaded with buds already. Congratulations to you and HH on a job well done. I just can’t keep up your pace, but then I work 4 days a week so I tend to just plant urns with flowers and a few tomato plants. That’s about my speed. The lobster house looks great! Chronicle should be notified (that’s Channel 5 in Boston).
Annette says
Love, love the pink and purple flowers. Do you have any growing tips for them?
Diane says
Have you seen Charles Dowding’s website or videos about multi sowing? Maybe just let the radishes grow on and thin them out when they start actually start bulbing so you get a small harvest as the other ones continue to grow on to bigger size. He does that with a lot of vegetables like onions, beets, etc. That might be a perfect solution for your tiny garden to get a bigger harvest.