Every time I walk the propery, I think it just can’t get any prettier. But I have to say, after walking around this morning, the daffodils must finally be peaking — it’s gorgeous out there! I looked back at last year’s calendar and they’re definitely about 2 weeks behind but like a box office smash, this year’s run is being extended. I thought the rain last week would do them in but they’ve popped back up and the forecast is calling for more cool nights (in the 40’s for the week) so they should be in peak for the week (finger’s crossed; kisses to Mother Nature).

In other bloom news, the Autumn flowering cherry is at it again although slightly less floriferous than when it bloomed during December’s warm spell. How cool is a cherry that blooms (at least) twice a year?! (answer: very cool!)

Ever since I found out one of my friends is color-blind I’ve been on a green flower kick. Looking for and enjoying a good monochrome is as close as I (as a color junkie) can get to understanding what it’s like to see in shades of grey. (That and un-Ted-Turner-ified classic films.) I spotted this Winter hazel in the water garden. With so many chartreuses in the spring landscape it’s too easy to overlook little delicacies like these.

According to last year’s calendar, on May 4th, 2006 we were late putting the hoops on the North Garden peonies. Only ever so slightly more on top of it this year, I put the hoops on this morning - probably just in the nick of time. I only had to coax a few buds through the grids rather than smashing the whole plant through. If you are a hooper - get to it! –The peonies are not waiting around! Keeping a garden journal or just writing down a few observations in the calendar helps clarify which plants are day length sensitive and which hold out for the warmer weather.

Remember this guy? Today the same Cinnamon fern looks like this!

Gail and I always choose the dirtiest days to go “shopping”. We set aside Friday mornings in late April and early May to go to nurseries to buy the plants we don’t grow ourselves - and to scout for plants we didn’t know we need… For some reason it seems like it always rains - especially for our first outing which is usually to a wholesale nursery on the island. (that’s Aquidneck Island for any readers not familiar with the local lingo) I don’t think I’ve ever seen this nursery on a sunny day - but that’s ok! The contrast between the monochome of a muddy day and the carpet of color in the houses is so delicious! This wholesaler is not open to the public but their plants are sold to retailers all over RI and MA - I highly recommend a dose of pure color on a grey day. Go plant shopping!

Or come to our greenhouse! Every visitor exclaims over the Orchid Cactus - of course it practically whacks people on the head saying “call me beautiful!” - but there are other beauties too if you can tear yourself away from The Beast (as I affectionately call her). Some are very quiet like this Tellima. The foliage looks a little like Heuchera and the flowers are very delicately scented. And the pitcher plants are looking gorgeous right now - ‘Tarnok’ makes showy veins look like a good thing and the Sarracenia purpurea is blooming! These pitchers are hardy here but for now we are enjoying having them in the greenhouse where we can watch them (it’s easier than squatting in a bog).

On a sunny day greenhouses can be over-stimulating with all the warmth and fragrance and color but on a dreary day they are the balm.

Spring is happening so quickly with this warm weather spell! Everywhere I look here there are things waking up with a stretch saying “mmm… what’s for breakfast?!”. The Magnolia stellata (Star magnolia) is rising with the sun from the top down. The water garden ferns are uncurling (exept for this fuzzy little guy is still tightly tucked) and early bird Hepatica has been up for hours already.

The volunteers have been busy so far this week - Tuesday’s Deadheads weeded the entire Display area and planted the Sweet peas! Sweet peas are the first seeds we sow in the greenhouse and the first annuals we plant in the garden because they thrive in the cool weather.

Today the Rockettes weeded the Rock Garden and uncovered some washed out paths and this afternoon, Gail and I took advantage of the afternoon’s cloud cover to start the North Garden relocation project. (As I wrote that I flashed on an image of jacking up the garden and trailering it to a new spot. We’re not doing that - it’s good where it is!) We were inspired by Fergus Garrett, the late Christopher Lloyd’s head gardener at Great Dixter, to reorganize the plants we already have to take better advantage of their best attributes. I’ll talk more about this as we get more organized! Early spring is a great time to move or divide perennials because they’re easy to handle before they’ve grown too much and as long as you keep them watered like you would a new plant, they’ll settle in before the heat of summer. It’s also best to move plants on a cool cloudy day with rain in the forecast - today was perfect!

What a weekend, huh?! I’ll bet I wasn’t the only one who didn’t get any housework done… But with temperatures rocketted to the 70’s after months in the freezings, summer seems like it might be lurking around the corner and I, for one, don’t want to miss spring! (excuses, excuses…) It’s perfect weather for taking in the Daffodils’ show - and the show must go on!
Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’ are center stage right now: They open yellow and fade to white. The night temperatures are just right for them to stay pretty for a bit as the other divas enter stage right. Cross your fingers that the rain in the forecast (Wednesday) isn’t a beater.

Here’s a spring ephemeral that’s easy to overlook - because they’re everywhere! Go closer — little red maple flowers are gorgeous! (but I am partial to the color orange…)

I was having a Georgia O’Keefe sort of morning and had to put my nose (and camera) right up to this daff (I felt a little embarrassed as if I was looking up her skirt) - I’m not sure of the name but they live next to the arbor in the Display Garden and are very sweetly scented.

Spring has sprung — for real this time! Here’s a few things that have been happening here today: The pumphouse is getting a much needed (and ever so slightly overdue) fresh paint job! Gail and Dan and I cleared storm runoff from the rock garden but it’s still so soggy down there I’m sorry to report that it won’t be open to visitors until sometime next week. boo.

The Cornus mas aka Cornelian cherry is blooming away. This picture doesn’t do it justice! The pale yellow haze against the water and sky is loverly.

Another yellow beauty (besides the daffodils!) showing it’s delicate self is the Erythronium aka Trout lily aka Dog’s tooth violet. These mottle-leaved sweeties are coming up everywhere and blooming today in the North Garden.

And the buzz on blue! The honey bees were out today loading up on the Scilla - and anything else they could get their buzz on. Scary news is honey bees have been disappearing in record numbers in a couple dozen states due to something called Colony Collapse Disorder. I’m so glad to see them still working away here! — Everyone plant more flowers!! We all need the bees!

And here’s what you’ve all been scrolling through to see - are the Daffodils peaking????? Not yet! But there are already bunches out and these sunny days will be all the encouragement they need! (We expect them to be in peak probably *next* weekend — but Mother Nature likes to surprise us! So come when you can — it’s always beautiful at Blithewold!)

Whoa - hey. My eyes are squinty! What’s happening? — Hold on, I remember this — could it be?… It IS! THE SUN’S OUT!!! Everybody up and at’em! Let’s go! Just look at the sun glinting on the (brandnewly working again after years of not!) North Garden fountain! The Daffodils will surely not be long now! And check out what else is blooming - in the Rose Garden - wee Tulipa ‘Johann Strauss’ looking a little chewed (oh deer!) but so so sweet.

Nor’easters tend to stick around like a tedious dinner guest and this one is definitely over staying its welcome. This week is probably a wash and the ground is still pretty squishy (with rain in the forecast through Thursday, the property might be wellie worthy for days.) Good news is, the rock and water gardens are not completely under water anymore — look at the difference! And just to tantalize you, see how sweet the rock garden is right now! Unfortunately though, the rock and water gardens are off limits to visitors until it dries out a bit (I snuck in - shhhh! don’t tell the guys! - but wait, I work here…). Fred and Dan have done a beautiful job cleaning up the Bosquet - not a twig out of place even after last night’s gale and the Daffodils are so close!! Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be balmy — in the low 60’s - can you stand it?! With the sun out and the daffs peeking (but not quite peaking) it’s bound to be just right for a walk around Blithewold. Plus you might get to see some fine fashion on fellow visitors - rubber shoes and shorts are all-the-rage!

Meanwhile in the greenhouse, Gail and I are fed up to our cotyledons with transplanting. Remember, it’s a good idea when transplanting lanky stretchy things like tomatoes to sink them up to their necks - good roots will grow from the stem.

Water, water everywhere! High tide this morning was HIGH. When I drove in this morning I wondered “what the heck is that is out in the bay?…” It was the GARDEN.

There’s nothing like a big storm to infuse a little drama in the daily slog. I would say that last night’s storm wasn’t pretty but, in a way, it was. Destructive, certainly! — but also beautiful in an awesome sort of way. (People with tree smashed cars and houses and flooded basements may disagree with me…) Blithewold lost some sizable tree pieces but the damage isn’t too terrible considering the size and location of the property and the sheer number of special specimens. (knock-on-wood; the storm’s not done yet!)

The Daffodils, thank goodness, look fine. If more of them were open, they might all look like this:

Most of the Daffs in the Bosquet are still looking snug in the bud though and quite perky despite all the wind, rain and sticks. By the time the weather improves, we should be cleaned up again and with any luck (cross your fingers) the Daffodils will be ready too!

The gardens have all had their spring clean-up and Julie, Gail and I even got to the Rose Garden’s east side climbing roses today! Pruning climbers isn’t rocket science but it’s definitely tricky and totally stickery! Each plant was thinned out to a half dozen or so newer canes and those canes were cut way back, arched slightly and retied to the fence. The climbers might not flower a whole lot this year, but next year’s show should be outstanding! (Sometimes patience is a virtue.)

So we’re ready to open - but the weather - ugh. Check the forecast. It looks like Saturday is this weekend’s best bet. The Daffodils are waiting for a little more heat before they strut their stuff, but the upside is you won’t be distracted from seeing other things quietly waking from a long (long) winter’s nap!

Yesterday was a lone decent-ish day in the middle of a whole bunch of dirty ones - with more ick on the way in the form of sleet, rain, wind and are they really forcasting snow?! So the Wednesday Rockettes and some flexi-schedule Thursday Florabundas spent a full morning cutting back and tidying up 3 of Blithewold’s gardens so that we could say “we’re ready!” for opening. If you can stand the cold (rain, wind, sleet and other early spring treats), late March to early April is a great time to cut back your perennials. They haven’t grown much yet (at least here they haven’t) and we could really cut close to the crown without beheading the new stuff coming up. (I can’t stand to see sticks, nubs, stubs in the spring -or any- garden. It’s a compulsion almost worthy of medical attention. I also can’t handle bent spoons. Call me wacky.) The North Garden looked like this a week ago and now, although it’s super quiet, it’s super tidy!

They (who?- does anyone know?) say roses should be spring pruned before the Forsythia blooms. I saw only the before and after in the Rose Garden and the contrast was so dramatic I became all screechy with amazement. Last week I stood in front of a thicket of climbers that looked like this

and this
with pruners poised but totally incapable of decision! Now, after a morning with a couple of people who are able to commit, the climbers on the west side look

like this.

I wish I had been there to see and apprentice to the masters at work. Julie calmly said, “You just get a feel for where to cut. It’s probably not done correctly…” Maybe a militant rosarian would scold, but looks pretty perfect to the rest of us, doesn’t it?