Gail and I are both a year or so older this week and in honor of our birthdays and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (graciously hostessed by Carol at May Dreams Gardens) I went a little crazy with the camera. Here are at least as many Blithewold blooms as candles would fit on our cakes. (According to Lilah, I am turning 26 and Gail is 31. This, to be perfectly frank, is why we’re keeping her on the payroll. – Nevermind that she’s an awesome gardener.)

Hover over for names/captions and as always, please click on for a larger – and slightly magical view + caption.

One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. -Franz Kafka

The Japanese beetles arrived last week and as Lilah and I were on patrol yesterday armed with cans of soapy water, she started reciting The Metamorphosis. (Cheeky girl.) We proceeded to have a showdown to see who could capture the most beetles. – I think it was a draw…

As gardeners we live and work amongst all walks (and flies and crawls) of life and as conscientious gardeners I think we do our best to do no harm. As Gail tells her kids, “we don’t hurt nature”. But then there’s things like aphids and Japanese beetles and white flies and scale and I seem to have no compunction at all about squarshing them. But we ought to practice at least basic integrated pest management. The more diverse the wildlife population is in the garden, the healthier and more balanced the garden is. It’s worth encouraging (just by not discouraging) natural predators – like ladybugs who eat aphids and praying mantises who eat everything (including fellow mantises). And as for the Japanese beetles whose only real predator is Lilah, we have tried dosing the grubs with Milky Spore Disease which is harmful to nothing else. — I think it might be working too. Dan treated the lawns two falls ago and so far this year (knock wood) the beetle population seems ever so slightly diminished. I’ve heard other theories that last year’s drought did them in. Are any of you seeing fewer this year than last?

Over the last few years I have learned to love and be less skeeved out by the creepy crawlies in the garden – even the giant spider web I walked into headfirst this morning didn’t set me shrieking. The more I’m around these guys, the more fascinated I become. It helps that I work with Gail who I think is an entomologist in a parallel universe. I can’t be too neurotically phobic when she’s saying “Wow! Look at this one!” She has an amazing box full of bugs and it is extra special for being a no-kill collection. It takes dedication and an extra keen eye to find the bugs that are already dead!

I’m content to watch the live ones. How do you feel about the wildlife in your garden?

TUESDAY TUESDAY TUESDAY!! – MONSTER PLAAAAAAANTS! Get your tickets today!

It’s very possible that the heat and humidity of the last few days have caused my brain to crash but I’ve been overwhelmed and downright noisy about the supersize-me ginormousness of some of our plants :

Especially the lotus (Nelumbo ‘Mrs. Perry D. Slocum)

The lettuces (which we took out today and replaced with ornamental peppers)

The Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ – I am more impressed by these than all of the bottle rockets over Bristol on the 4th – plus it’s quieter…

A potted Burkheya purpurea (a what?) that we were sure was dead about 2 months ago

And our “baby beast” orchid cactus (Nopalxochia ackermanii) was so overcome by its own hugeness that it fell right over.

Not only are a lot of the plants the size of Buicks but in the last couple of days, Lilah and I found nearly a dozen skyscraper weeds masquerading as desirable specimens! Does this ever happen to you? (Look at how proud Lilah is – I almost wonder if she let it grow on purpose…)

The Monster Plant Rally will be ongoing – get your tickets at participating Blithewold Visitor Centers everywhere!

If you ever get to visit Bristol during the pre-Independence Day season you’ll notice that Bristolians take this holiday very seriously. On my walks around town lately I’ve been absolutely amazed all over again at how many houses and gardens are dressed in flags and stars and lights and red, white and blue everything. I can actually count on one hand and some toes the number of houses NOT dressed for the party (mine, alas, is one — we’re considering shopping the bunting blowout sales and draping our house in time for Bastille Day).

The writers over at Gardening Gone Wild host a monthly Garden Design Workshop and this month’s theme, proposed by Nan Ondra, is perfectly timely for us in Bristol – it’s all about garden whimsy. Many of the gardens I walk by in town have regimental impatiens marching among the foundation sentries but some Bristol gardeners are exhibiting their quirky personalities and their senses of humor along with their patriotism – they’re showing all kinds of “flair”.

Even though I think it’s possible to go overboard in the flair and whimsy department (a little goes a long way) I really enjoy seeing something unexpected and even giggle inducing in the garden. I know a gardener who has a demonic looking blue plastic bear/dog poking out of his delphinium and another with a bronze cast of her own hand emerging from a pond – sometimes the hand grasps a bottle of beer; other times a trowel. And I like to think that the mail carrier gets a kick out of Floyd, the plastic flamingo who guards our mail box. Here at Blithewold we keep the whimsy understated and even our Independence Day rah!-rah! is on the quiet side (Thanks to Sue McC. there is always a flag flying over the front door).

Do you enjoy glimpses of personality and humor in other people’s gardens? At Gardening Gone Wild they’ve asked: Do you have anything whimsical or personal in yours? A pair of wooden geese, perhaps? A train set? A statue of St. Francis? And I also wonder, do you decorate for the holidays?

*title phrase borrowed from the cult classic film Office Space by Mike Judge.

Maybe it’s the influence of living through the hoopla surrounding the 4th of July in Bristol, RI (home of the longest running – and longest marching – 4th of July parade in the country) but it seems like life is eventful at the moment.

Last Friday Gail and I celebrated the last hurdle hurdled before our July 4th week got-to-get-the-gardens-in deadline by a marathon planting of the newest Display Garden bed. Even though we were still tucking things in today, it feels like a major event to be officially finished planting!

After finishing that on Friday (and after scraping the most of the dirt from my fingernails and elbow wrinkles) I tagged along to the last garden in Blithewold’s Intimate Garden Tour Series. Our hosts welcomed the group with open arms and showed us what it means to actually live within the landscape – this was no mere garden! (Not that I’m dissing mere gardens – I, myself have one of those.) I have to say honestly that I didn’t expect to covet the house or even the property – 40 acres along a branch of the Westport River (erm, why wouldn’t I want that?). The house is ultra moderne but so site specific – it was designed and built for exactly that spot, no other – and really blurred the boundaries between inside and out which is what they were going for. It works in the dreamiest way possible. One of the couple is a landscape architect and rather than build things like a lot LAs do, he talked about “editing” the landscape. Sure there were elements they added but most of their touch was felt in care-full revealing of views. Sublime and sweet and magnificent all at once and although I can’t bring much of what they did “home” with me, I feel richer for seeing how elegantly it can be done. I’m only sorry that this was the last tour of the season and can’t encourage you to join the group for the next one.

I can encourage you to join us for Blithewold’s evening soirées – the next one is in the North Garden on July 16th – click here for details. That same week the Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs is presenting a flower show at Blithewold. Their gala is on July 17th and the show is open on the 18th and 19th. I haven’t found any information on line about how to or whether you can enter your own arrangements and horticultural specimens (and win as many blue ribbons as possible) so if you’re interested in finding out more, ask your favorite garden club member. Meanwhile, I’ll do the same and hopefully have more to tell you about it next time…

Seeing this fellow (and many others) in the last of the shredded leaf pile was eventful for the volunteers and me this morning. Anyone know what it’s going to grow up to be?

Finally the most major event in my recent days is a visit from none other than the famous and favorite Layanee of Ledge and Gardens! Thank you for the strawberries and I hope the sweet peas made the long ride home without wilting!