Storey staffers and friends share glimpses of what’s flowering in their gardens, yards, and the wide world beyond.
Can we just go head and call June “peony season”? These big-headed blooms, with buds beloved by ants and with tissue paper-like petals, may have a short lifespan. When they’re happening, though, I have a hard time resisting a stop in each yard I pass to appreciate their beauty and acknowledge the fact that summer is around the corner. But limiting this month to a celebration of one kind of flower is to give everything else blossoming short shrift — and there is a lot blossoming right now; not just here in New England but — as you’ll see from this month’s post — across the pond as well. As azaleas fade, irises abound and mock orange’s perfume wafts. We welcome all of it. What’s blooming where you are? — Emily Spiegelman, Digital Content Manager
Deb Burns
Though she normally posts from Williamstown, Massachusetts, Deb’s Bloom Day pictures this month are from her recent journey with her daughter along the Mediterranean, a gift from Storey celebrating her 25 years at the company. The photos show some of what’s blooming in Athens, Aix-en-Provence (France), and the Cinque Terre and Lombardy areas of northern Italy.
Our Air BnB in Athens had lemon, fig,and olive trees on the balcony, plus pots of herbs and geraniums.
Walking to the beach (the Aegean Sea) along Poseidon Avenue, we marveled at these stunning trees, but could not ID them then or since. Does anyone recognize them?
This was taken in the old neighborhood of twisting streets and golden facades just below the Acropolis.
This flower market in Aix-en-Provence, southern France, goes from 8 to noon, after which the pavement is washed and out come the café tables, chairs, and umbrellas. From then till evening it’s a gathering place, beneath that wonderful 18th-century building, the Halle aux Grains, or Grain Exchange, with its terrific pediment.
In Aix-en-Provence it was the French Mothers’ Day (La Fête des Mères), a week after ours, and this young rose seller was doing a big business.
My daughter Tess inhales the jasmine that pours over a garden wall in Aix-en-Provence.
In the Cinqueterre, along the west coast of Italy, roses grow among the vineyards.
In northern Italy, such a beautiful sight: red poppies planted among the wheat, blooming in May.
Ilona Sherratt, Cheshire, Massachusetts
Zoë Spring, Worthington, Massachusetts
Sweet Cicely
Corey Cusson, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Pumpkin flower
Maribeth Casey, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Clematis
Allium flowers
Pink peony
Heather Tietgens, Stamford, Vermont
White potentilla
Jacob’s Ladder
Double begonia, with perennial geranium in the background
MaryAnn Nøbben, Norway
Geum
Patio garden in bloom
Carolyn Eckert, Florence, Massachusetts
Peony from the side
Siberian iris, dusty with pollen
Bachelor’s button, or blue corn flower, crazy hair day
Melinda Slaving, North Adams, Massachusetts
Mock orange
Iris
Pots in bloom
Debbie Surdam, Hoosick, New York
Pink dahlias
Peony
Yellow strawflowers
Daylilies
Michal Lumsden, Plainfield, Massachusetts
Lupine with bumble bee
Geum
Bearded iris
The last azalea
Pre-peony
