Well, I missed the traditional Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th, but it’s only 3 days later, not so late in the span of the natural world, right?

Last month I wrote of drought. Since then, it feels like it’s been raining daily. The mosquitoes, which were never virulent this year and had all but vanished, are swarming madly suddenly. But happily, hummingbirds, and monarchs and other butterflies, and other pollinators are also prolific this year; they are, after all, a big reason many of us plant blooms.

Here’s what happening in my zone 4b-5a northern New England garden this month.

The back border and backyard, with Joe Pye weed, goldenrod, fennel, weeping larch, weeping dwarf spruce, dwarf Alberta spruce, juniper, several varieties of echinacea, milkweed, PG hydrangea, heather, phlox from a friend, comfrey, rosemary and parsley in the herb box, willow gentian just starting to bloom, and lots of pollinators.

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The shade garden: Not a lot blooming there, but it’s still an oasis on warm days. The kirengeshoma (yellow waxy bells – top left) is just in bud, the ‘June Fever’ hosta, one of my favourites (bottom left), is glowing in the gloom.

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Front yard: Among the blooms are echinaceas, crocosmia (almost finished), bee balm (monarda), ‘Hab Grey’ sedum, ‘Rozanne’ geranium and another variety, a dwarf ‘River King’ birch tree, and others.

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Rock Wall: Raspberries and a few hazelnuts (most already taken by varmints), and yellow blooms of Inula helenium (elecampane, horseheal), a couple kinds of daylilies, and the Clethra rubra ‘Ruby Spice’ just beginning to open up.

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Fruit Guild: The peaches are the story here. Despite all of our efforts to prop up laden branches, one large one split, just like last year, which is why there are ladders and pitchforks and brooms holding up as many as possible — and we’re still about a week from starting to pick them! There’s also asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) there, lots of fennel and some dill, and echinacea, nasturtiums, goldenrod, and a few yarrow blooms hanging on.

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Finally, the side yard, where I’ve seen four monarch larvae at once on the milkweed there. There are also plenty of predators, like wasps, lacewings, Asian lady beetles, and others. Some of the plants in the side yard, around the vegetable garden, are elderberries, which are getting purple now, asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed), which draws the great golden digger wasps (a solitary, non-aggressive animal), along with about two or three dozen standard milkweed plants, bee balm, echinacea, cosmos (not shown), vervain, buddleia, crocosmia, volunteer great blue lobelia, and more. The hummingbirds and clearwing moths (both types, Hemaris thysbe aka the hummingbird clearwing, and H. diffinis, the snowberry clearwing) love this garden, along with fritillaries, monarchs, and swallowtails.

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I’ll be posting more August insect photos in a few days on this blog. Check back if that’s your thing!

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.