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The Pleasures of Dirt
Greetings! 
I joke that if anyone ever stopped by my house when I'm out gardening, they'd mistake me for the homeless person Veronica kindly hired so that she could buy food. I wear my rattiest clothes, torn and paint-stained, and my favorite gardening shoes are freebie crocs my neighbor gave me because they were too big.
I also harbor a secret love of getting muddy. After spending my work days carefully groomed and in heels, there's something ridiculously liberating about getting out into the garden and just digging in--grinding my knees into wet dirt, wiping my filthy hands on my pants leg, stinking like a construction worker, and simply not giving a mouse's patootey about what gets on what and how I'm going to wash it out. It's the closest thing to childlike abandon I can manage in my highly responsible, tidy life.
Sometimes, when I'm really, really crazy, I just lie down on my back for a bit in the grass and look at the sky and marvel at the ever-changing clouds. Try that in a pencil skirt and heels.
It makes me think of a funny item in our local paper, in the police log. Some neighbors called 911 because there was a strange man lying in the yard next door at night. It turns out he was simply there on his back, watching the stars.
And yes, when I'm sitting or lying in my garden, I've had neighbors and even my family come out and ask me if I'm okay. What they can't see is that in my garden--filthy, hot, and maybe even flat on my back--I am as fine as I've been in a long time.
Happy Flat-On-Your-Back Gardening,
Veronica Lorson Fowler
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More Flower Power
 One of the great pleasures of gardening is that during the growing season, I always have plenty of flowers for cutting indoors. Right now, a big vase of Korean lilacs is perfuming
the room so intensely my son is complaining about it. Few things make me as happy as creating an arrangement of flowers, no matter how simple.
And once you've put the effort into it, keep your flowers lasting days longer with a few simple tricks. The single most helpful thing you can do? Change the water every day or so.
For more tips on making bouquets last longer, including a "recipe" for floral preservative made from lemon juice and sugar, click here.
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Wascally Wabbits 
The rabbits have been out in force. I'm always amused at how bold they are--just sitting there on the lawn, staring at me right in the eye, nervously evaluating how dangerous I might be.
I'm less amused when I discover the various plants they've damaged. But there are ways to minimize rabbit damage. Repeated university studies have found that home remedies like human hair and blood meal and any gimmicky gizmos do not work. Fencing, chicken wire, and planting things less attractive to rabbits do indeed work.
So check out our page on dealing with rabbits, including some very attractive low fencing designs that are ideal for surrounding a vegetable garden.
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Our Lucky Winners!
On Saturday, June 15 at 10:00 a.m. I'll be at Reiman Gardens, giving a presentation on the best roses for Iowa and tips for growing roses in Iowa. It's part of Reiman's Annual Rose Fest. In our last newsletter, I told readers that the first 8 who contacted me via our The Iowa Gardener Facebook page would be my guest at the event, normally $15.
The winners are: Rosa Unal, Steve Bear Bartlett, Barb Knapp, Andrea Davis, Jean Jungling, Marlene Pape, Tammy Peterson, and Karen Tandy.
Even if you didn't win, please join us. I'll be there, selling and signing my book, Gardening in Iowa, and I'd love to meet you!
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June To-Do
 Plant now seeds of squash, cucumbers, corn, beans, and other seeds that need warmer soil (usually 2 weeks past the last average frost date).
Go ahead and buy plants on clearance, but buy only those plants that look healthy. Avoid runty, dried out, or otherwise tired-looking plants. They're unlikely to rally.
Weed, weed, weed! Get them now while they're small and prevent big problems later. Click here for tips on how to wipe out max weeds in minimum time.
Deadhead flowers on annuals, perennials, and some shrubs. It keeps your garden more attractive and in many cases, it will encourage more flowers longer.
Continue to plant container-grown or balled-and-burlapped trees, shrubs, and roses now. However, avoid planting bare-root roses and other bare-root plants. This late in the year, they'll struggle to get established and may well die.
Time to practice tough love. If a tree or shrub is still struggling with winter damage or overall sickness, with significant amounts of dead wood, it's almost certainly time to dig it up or cut it down.
Remove the browning foliage of tulips and daffodils once it pulls away easily. Until then, the plant is using it to rejuvenate for next year.
Pinch mum buds until the 4th of July. This helps them produce larger, bigger flowers on stronger stems.
Harvest early and often for the most tender, sweetest produce and to keep plants producing well. Pick zucchini, for example, with the yellow flower still attached.
Check out the bulb catalogs and on-line sources. Ordering now assures the type and quantity you want this fall, when supplies run low.
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Editor's Choice
Garden Events
Sunday, June 9th
Pedal to Petal Bike Ride
Rally your cycling friends for a leisurely bike ride through the greater Des Moines metro to visit four beautiful gardens. Proceeds support the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden.
Choose between an eight or 33-mile bicycle ride on metro trails. The short route includes one stop and riders may choose to drive to the other gardens. Refreshments provided at each stop.
Registration fee is $30 in advance, $35 day of the ride. Check-in and leave from the Botanical Garden between 8 and 9 a.m.
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Garden Quote
"Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards."
- Novelist Vladimir Nobokov
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