On a hunt for my missing camera this morning (“have you seen it?!”, I asked the birds. “To weetle weetle weetle”, said the birds.), I cruised through the Bosquet past nearly done daffs and wide-eyed Trillium (thinking I would take a picture, if only…) to the North Garden. Gail and I spent yesterday afternoon in the horseshoe beds finishing up with our perennial re-location project. We have taken out extra burly Phlox ‘David’s and a couple of daylilies here and there and some Amsonia orientalis (aka Rhazya orientalis) which nearly killed me (the taproot on that thing!… the runners!…) to give breathing space to the wanted clumps and make ample room for our rotations of annuals for more color-no-waiting. As my lucky stars would have it (thank you lucky stars!) my camera was high and dry, despite the fog and forecast rain, on the fountain steps exactly where I don’t remember leaving it. (phew!) So I was able to, then and there, take this foggy morning picture. Tulips are ‘Creme Upstar’ and ‘Burgundy’ – looking actually more like red (which I think suits the garden very well).

Yesterday, while some of the volunteers worked near the Enclosed Garden and some worked out at the entrance gate (Ellie asked “Are we being punished for something?”), others of us started planting out our new “dry shade” bed under the Sophora by the Moongate. We borrowed giant Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’ from the Display Garden along with Hakonechloa, Kirengeshoma and Rabdosia. The only picture I have so far of the bed is of Brunnera macrophylla cheek to cheek with its doppelganger Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica). A point in favor of the Brunnera is that the foliage keeps on keeping on long after the flowers have gone. After tea more of us helped Ellie tackle the entrance gate – it’s looking so much better!

Today the pond, which is front and central to the Display Garden redesign, will be de-scummed. A local expert, Barney Webster from Nelumbo Water Gardens will clean it out and has generously offered to donate some plants (Lotus, maybe?!). I’m sure our resident frog will much prefer clean water and lovely plants to his current scuz-cloud basking platform!

Looking around the potting shed there are piles of to-do lists masquerading as debris, an open container of cookies, a variety of hand tools, filthy gloves, plants in various states of need, open books, unwashed mugs, torn pages from magazines and a film of dust (dirt to be perfectly honest) over everything. But we have truly not been inhabiting this room for the last few weeks (even when I sit here to write, my mind is in the garden). It’s a little shocking really to actually look around at the mess of days upon days! (I’d get up now to neaten it but my readers beckon — don’t you?!)

Out in the gardens it’s a different story. The entire grounds and garden staff (all 5 of us) along with the volunteers have spent the beginning of the week in the Display Garden getting it going for the season. The grand redesign of the area will be in progress for at least a couple of years but this week Fred and Dan have concentrated on getting the paths sodded and this year’s new beds ready for planting. We haven’t put in many super tender annuals yet (cold nights still in the forecast…) but we did unpack and plant some of the dahlias to give them a head start. This year we tried a new (to us) method of storage – dampened sawdust in cardboard boxes and so far so good! The tubers are nice and plump and we only had a little rot loss. Some of the tubers were kept in our pump house (garden shed) where the temperatures dipped to the 30′s over the winter and we kept some in the greenhouse cellar which stays fairly warm (low 60′s) all winter because of heat from the furnaces. Both batches (so far!) are fine!

Today’s group spread shredded leaves (our favorite mulch – and we never make enough!) on the Cutting Garden and peony row and they pored over the Rock Garden on an onion grass annihilation mission. Gail and I have spent the afternoons working in the North Garden – reorganizing bed by bed. Yesterday we worked in the star wall bed where I performed surgery on this tri-perennial – a Dicenthalictracallis? A bleeding day rue? A meadow heart lily? Whatever it should be called, it was a beautiful combination but we decided that space being tight where it was, it needed to be un-siamesed. Now in its place is a daylily shadow of its former self.

I can’t send this out into the world without at least one – or maybe two up the skirt shots. Dicentra exima ‘Snowdrift’ is blooming in the Rock Garden and my favorite tulip ‘Artist’ (orange and green all on one!) is opening up in the Cutting Garden.

For weeks, Gail and I have been staring at our newest bed in the Display Garden like nervous painters in front of a blank canvas. There’s something about a “tabula rasa” that can be just plain daunting. But like a painter after making the first bold stroke, we’re full of sudden inspiration. After spending the weekend in my own new (to me) garden, cutting in a new bed, I can also say that starting fresh is a different kind of satisfying than refreshing the old. There’s a sense of “ha! I own this garden!” Of course with that pride comes ownership of all the mistakes and oopses and did I really think that should go just exactly there?! – But perfection and gardens don’t go together and what fun would it be if they did? (answer – “no fun!”)

Today Gail and I started the process of placing plants in the new bed – some perennials and grasses that we removed last week from the prairie bed; some cuttings and seedlings we grew in the greenhouse; some plants we purchased – to be planted by the Deadheads tomorrow. We’re both inclined to pack plants in for a beefier show immediately but we’re practicing restraint (so far) in order to give everything room to grow (more or less) un-smashed. We also plan to plant out the very tender annuals when the temperature is consistently warmer and really should leave space for those… !

Meanwhile, elsewhere … remember that little wildflower I didn’t know the name of? I found it! I spotted this “wild oat lily” in the Rock Garden. Thanks to Marion Murray, Blithewold’s pre-me Interpretive Horticulturist who left last fall to become very important in Utah, for making exquisite choices in the Rock Garden and for labeling them! (Marion, we all miss you!)

And until the daffodils have gone by, I’ll keep looking up their skirts – this one (Narcissus ‘Pheasant’s Eye’) is in the Water Garden tucked up with the uncoiling Cinnamon ferns.

Spring in New England gets going in a big hurry and it seems to induce a mad mad rush to get-it-done-now-! in all of us. But now is also the time to slow down, savor and soak in the transition and enjoy it. The mornings are full of birds, the air is crisp and cool all day, the sun’s warmth doesn’t feel oppressive… I can’t rhapsodize enough about what a dream it’s been to poke around every morning looking for evidence of spring!

I wouldn’t have noticed the Epimediums (barrenwort) shivering in the breeze like a jack russell puppy if I hadn’t crouched down just to look at them (rather than crouching down just to weed around them) in the Rock Garden. And the Trillium nearly reached up with a howdy from behind a rock in the Bosquet when I walked by slowly with my eyes open (rather than in a rush thinking about what’s next). The ferns in the Water Garden which are background beautiful most of the year, are so adorable right now that their fuzzy fists are in a state of uncurl – it seems like you could watch them open if you spent the afternoon quietly sitting in front of the Water Garden TV.

And that’s what I think you should put on your to-do list for this time of year – a quiet sit in a pretty place; a walk in the woods; a visit to someone else’s garden (like Blithewold) for a little rest and recharge in the middle of all the frantic/frenetic activity of a fast spring. It’s too easy to get overwhelmed by everything that has to get done in the garden all-of-a-sudden in the few weeks before blazing summer – and end up getting nothing done! Time spent enjoying a garden without working in it is sometimes all the inspiration needed to get you comfortably and less frantically on track for the season. (I can just hear the sarcastic remarks from our professional gardener friends – “this time of year? time OFF?! oh sure!” But I know I’m not the only one to sneak a moment “off” here and there!)

Is it really only Thursday?! We’ve been busy busy busy. The Tuesday crew (a very photogenic bunch – they’re the only ones I have pictures of!) had a varied morning – first they un-planted one of the display beds to make way for more work on the grand redesign, then they planted the “wedding pots” (giant pots at the entrance to the tent – which is occasionally used for other kinds of events!).

Hint: When un-planting keepers, it’s a good idea to either re-plant right away – or if you have to hold plants over (as we often do), put them in full shade, cover the roots and keep them watered. They’ll resent the disruption to their routine but with a little love and attention after replanting (water water water) they’ll settle into their new spot.

Wednesday morning was pretty rainy (was it really only yesterday?!) so a couple of volunteers spent time at the potting bench transplanting seedlings, writing tags and keeping Gail and I on task. The Florabundas spent this sunny morning forking out massive amounts of onion grass (it’s almost embarrassing) and making those first-impression entrance beds look well kept and cared for.

In my spare time (when’s that?! – after sleeping, before digging!- ie. first thing in the morning) I’ve been cruising the property checking out all the spring ephemerals and sticking my camera up every flower’s nose. The broad view is a stunner but look closely and you’ll see things like more maple flowers – this one is Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’ Cut leaf full moon Japanese maple. And Mayflower, Anemone quinquefolia, a RI wildflower that blooms around the first of May. And does anyone know what this one is? It’s only about 4 or so inches tall and we spotted it near the interpretive sign in the Bosquet. Pretty little thing… probably has a name… !

Not only are the daffodils still looking gorgeous, but the tulips are starting to bloom! The orange ones (American Dream) are in the Cutting Garden and spectacular Tulipa ‘Princess Charmante’ are in the Rose Garden.