WHAT IS SO RARE AS A DAY IN JUNE?

June at last. The leaves on the trees arrived a week late in this most cold and rainy spring of 2008. But the garden glows with arabis, muscari and tulips in bloom. Even the few vegetables I planted seem addled with sun. The gardener plans to take it easy, go on a trip, drink tea and read on the patio.

News of the new. Earwigs, previously unknown in Thunder Bay, were common last summer. They get into the house after dark. However, they avoid bright light so an outside light at night may deter them. Skunks, which prowl at night, also dislike bright light. They dig under sheds and garages but they are not very strong and a row of bricks along the edge of a building will stop them. Raccoons have been seen here and there. They are garbage eaters and scatterers. You need a good fitting lid on your garbage can. They laugh at plastic garbage cans but are stymied by metal ones. They are known for nesting in chimneys, garages, even attics.

The lawn needs cutting again. Of course it is full of dandelions. The Thunder Bay gardener has to make a decision. Attack the dandelions on your hands and knees with pointed tools spending hours perfecting the lawn or give up and enjoy life. I opt for the latter course. More and more, people are side-stepping the problem by limiting the lawn area.

But grass has its place. Nothing is stronger for foot traffic, for children's play areas or more lovely for setting off the garden beds. Unfortunately many business owners dispense with grass by paving the area with asphalt. The city also has an asphalt addiction and spreads the stuff liberally over boulevards, verges and traffic islands, blackening the landscape like an early Victorian city.

Our asphalt habit has given Thunder Bay its reputation as an ugly city. I love to drive the residential streets. At this time of year, people are planting trees and shrubs to create, in many cases, stunning gardens.

I try to avoid the asphalt streets that run like pustular scars through the city- Arthur, upper Red River Road, Memorial, Fort William Road. Unfortunately these are the streets that visitors see. Memorial Road makes me cringe. A few businesses ease the eye with plantings but they are a drop in the bucket of blackness. It makes me mad to think the banks, for example, which make millions in profit, cannot even spit out 25 bucks for a hanging basket.

Tip. Now is the time to walk the lanes and residential streets. You can pick up a lot of garden ideas on a walk.