I’m good at about 60°. The past week’s heat and high humidity have made me a bit sour. The good news, however, is that the plants love it. Things are jumping out of the ground.

I took a couple trips up Island and was amazed to see the amount of multiflora roses along the roadside. The only break in them was a lone Beauty Bush just passed Beetlebung at the entrance to the sadly-no-more Chilmark Chocolates.

Speaking of roses, I cannot let a June go by without mentioning the lovely old-fashioned purple one at the State Road side of the house at the corner of the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road. I am not sure but I think it is probably Reine des Violettes. I’ve never examined it too closely but have always admired it from traffic.

Also, in my travels, I noticed the Betty Corning clematis at the entrance to Heather Gardens. I am going to keep an eye on it this summer. It supposedly blooms for quite some time.

I’m a lifelong churchgoer. I figure I need to go somewhere weekly that requires me to sit still for an hour, not to mention I am very fond of singing hymns. At any rate, Covid has changed all that. This past Sunday, I pulled and picked two varieties of English peas. I tried to do it in a spirit of gratitude.

For starters, Gina Stanley from the Art Cliff Diner gave me a wonderful gift some years ago. Called a garden scooter, it has a comfy tractor seat which swivels around and wheels to go up and down the row without getting up.

I put the peas in the same place every year–they don’t seem to mind. I have wire mats from Goodale‘s attached to rebar. The wire mats are used in the pouring of cement foundations. So far, they have lasted 15 years.

I started picking both Knight and Lincoln and realized they had few blooms and were therefore finished for the season. I yanked them all and replanted pole beans in their spot.

I was able to freeze some containers and eat more than humanly possible— life is indeed good.

Now is the time to cut all the garlic scapes. It’s good for the plant to get rid of them. The big benefit is, of course, eating them. I cut them at about one inch long and sauté. They are very mild. Violet mistook them for green beans in a dish.

My fun garden event this week needs some ink. At a job site, I have a large livestock watering trough planted with herbs. One has both creeping and regular thyme. As I began watering, an explosion of baby rabbits erupted from a nest hidden under the creeping thyme. We were on the chase since they were clearly too tiny for the world at large. After the big rescue, we tucked them back in their home and marveled at both the mother’s ingenuity and the grandness of nature.

We are firmly ensconced, however, in Trump’s world in our country. On Tuesday, he went to Arizona to see and then brag about his wall. He even said it is keeping Covid out! The real irony is now the European Union is considering placing a travel ban on us! There you have it— keeping America great.