Kudos and many thanks go to all who made the Celebration of a Century Gala such a whopping success. Gala volunteers were able to raise more money for our operating budget (salaries, etc) – as well as extra for a new roof for the mansion – than any of the other wildly successful galas in previous years. That’s truly astounding especially considering our country’s current economic funk. I am constantly amazed and gratified by just how supportive Blithewold’s supporters are.

I’m also endlessly gratified by our every day visitors – we wouldn’t be in the garden (or on-line) without them either. It’s not just their praise that we live for (and if I may take a moment for horn tooting, we are told almost every day that this is the most meticulously maintained public garden they’ve seen. Many many thanks to our amazing volunteers!), but their questions definitely make the days more interesting. One of our garden docents passed along a few questions from the weekend and I hope the askers watch the blog for the answers:

Q: What kind of grapes are on the arbor?

A: They are New England’s finest – Concord – and the vine is about 100 years old.

Q: Where are the beehives?

A: It’s been a couple of years since we’ve had busy domestic honey bee hives on the property but there is a thriving wild hive in a Horse Chestnut stump just off the path between the Enclosed Garden and the Display Garden.

Q: Why do bees like the pond?

A: Bees need water for making the brood food and to regulate the temperature in the hive. They keep the hive at a steady 95 degrees Fahrenheit or so – any warmer and the wax will start to melt. Some of the worker bees are given the job of bringing water to the hive and will make upwards of 50 trips a day. They like our cement pond because it’s close to the hive, a consistent source since it never goes dry, and it has plenty of convenient landing pads.

High praise also goes to Fred and Dan for making such a fun games table in the Display Garden. Not a day goes by without a game played and yesterday Margaret (our fabulous curator and 3rd floor archivist) and her grandchildren from the U.K. came over to play a round of Giraffes. (“Giraffes” is Thomas’ name for Draughts which is English for Checkers.) Team Thomas and Margaret took gold and Sophie won the silver.

And finally, kudos and a shout out to my friend Sarah who has started a public garden at Firehouse 13 in Providence, RI and is blogging all about it. Visit Green Zone to read posts which range in topic from WWII victory gardens to container planting in shoes. (Sarah’s day job has her out and about awarding state preservation grants to places like Blithewold for projects like our greenhouse restoration in 2005. Yay, Sarah!)

It’s summertime (the living is easy) and it’s Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – those are reasons enough for me to want to eat, drink and be generally merry. But not only that, Blithewold is 100 years young this year and hundreds of people will be celebrating in high style at the “Celebration of a Century” Gala this Saturday. I wish I could work the red carpet like Joan Rivers and broadcast the best and worst dressed. Instead, I’ll present my picks for best and worst dressed in the garden:

Praying Mantis is elegantly understated – green is definitely the new black.

Frog (son of Gus-Gus) is wearing this season’s green as well as a fashion forward statement in eyewear – he’s certainly an eye catching Prince Charming! Come here, sweetie and let me kiss you…

This Orb-web spider has gone a little overboard I think – super scary and yet I can’t take my eyes off her (kind of like a Cher train wreck). What was she thinking?!

The gardens are all dressed in their mid August party finery too. Here are some belles of the Bloggers Bloom Day Gala (hosted as always by generous Carol of May Dreams Gardens):

Anybody else in a party mood? Who’s dressed up in your garden?

It was really really good to get away. It always is. It’s not that I don’t love my work — you know I do! — Rather, it’s that after a little while in the blaze of summer, gardening starts to feel like a job. Taking a break reminds me that I really need to slow down and drink it all in to thoroughly enjoy it. After all, we garden because we love to, right? Sure it’s laborious sometimes and dirty but that is all part of the fun – at least until it starts to feel like work with a capital W. Over the weekend I met a Little Compton gardener who showed me around her garden and apologized for its “messiness”. But she also explained that she’s come to be able to actually relax in her garden – her hammock might even hold her in a nap now and again. I’ve got to say that that garden was one of the prettiest “messes” I’ve seen and I really envy her “work” ethic. It’s important to keep up with the weeding but we also need to stop and smell the cardoons. (Truly! – Have you ever leaned in for a sniff? Sweet honey but mind the bees…) At home I have decided to try to enjoy my “mess” without feeling frantic and here I am smiling again even as I help Ann deadhead the stinging eryngium. Do you ever need to take a vacation from gardening?

It also takes being away from it to really see what the garden is and how it’s grown. The first thing I noticed at Blithewold was how big and beautiful everything had gotten in just one week. Just like last year, the Stapelia opened for my return!

And the rain brought a chill to the air and long sleeves out of the closet.

And the cabbages are fully cabbaged. And the sunflowers are stratospheric.

At home I noticed other things like giant weeds and a decided lack of late season color. I’m glad I was able to get away from my garden long enough to see it with fresh eyes and I’m glad that I’m relaxed enough now to think it’s a thing of beauty anyway! What do you notice about your garden after you’ve been away from it?