I’m not sure I should admit to how much time I spend thinking about my own garden while I’m working in this one. I can’t help but distractedly eyeball all of the plants that I want for myself. Why is that? I’m surrounded by thousands of beautiful plants here at work – why do I have the burning desire to have so many of them at home too? I guess gardening must be more obsession than profession – probably people in other lines of work are more able to separate themselves from it when they go home. (Booksellers might have a tough time too, come to think of it…)

But then it can hardly be helped – what is a public garden for, if not to bring home ideas? Right now Viburnum carlesii (Koreanspice bush also known as Mayflower viburnum) is at the top of the list of plants on the property for which I would pay full price. Michael Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants says, “A garden without a viburnum is akin to life without music and art.” – so obviously my garden shouldn’t go another day without one.  Dirr does imply in Viburnums: Flowering Shrubs for Every Season that the Koreanspice is rather pedestrian as viburnums go. But with such a perfume, who wouldn’t want one of their very own?  The shrubs are also pleasingly rounded, dense and typically 4-8′ tall – ours are in the 6-8′ range. They can take sun or shade (I imagine they are more floriferous in the sun) and a range of soil conditions – excepting wet according to Dirr. They are hardy from USDA zones 4-8ish. A couple of years ago we planted V. carlesii ‘Compactum’ in the Rose Garden and that’s the one for me. Not only is it a dwarf that grows only to 3-4′ but it was introduced by my great-grandfather’s friends and colleagues at Hoogendoorn Nurseries in Middletown, RI back in 1953.

Anne Raver, mentions Koreanspice bush in this NY Times article about attracting pollinators.  She noticed that as delicious as the scent is to us, her bee population was not as hungry for it. I feel strongly, like she does, about planting natives – which are generally more attractive to our wildlife – and so my plan is, for every exotic I plant in my garden, I’ll plant two natives. How’s that for justifying some serious plant shopping this weekend?

Do thoughts about your garden distract you while you’re at work? What’s at the top of your full-price wishlist right now?

“There is of course no such thing as a green thumb. Gardening is a vocation like any other – a calling, if you like, but not a gift from heaven.”                                            – Eleanor Perenyi (1918-2009)

For the next few weeks Gail and I will plant, divide and move perennials in any kind of weather short of a monsoon-style downpour but we both had to agree that, even though we are Spring-sun junkies like most people, yesterday’s weather was perfect.  Overcast, spitting rain here and there, somewhere in the 50′s or low 60′s – the plants hardly noticed that they were being messed with and we warmed up as we worked. And the weather for the rest of the week looks ideal for a stress-free settling in. With rain and cloud-cover, plants can concentrate on repairing roots rather than urgently putting on green growth and photosynthesizing (and wilting from the exertion). It’s perfect weather for garden gazing and photography too – gray skies make colors pop. As usual, hover over for captions and click on for larger view.

We picked up where we left off last October when we rearranged the furniture in the North Garden, and took out a few more Phlox paniculata ‘David’ and added in our favorite (OK, my favorite) Phlox paniculata ‘Natural Feelings’. We replaced the standard pink Japanese anemone with white, early flowering Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’. We tucked in a few sweet flag (Acorus calamus ‘Variegatus’) for some bright spears to break up the monotony of a predominantly billowy garden. And we plucked out a few of the front row catmints (Calamintha nepeta) and replaced them with a 12″ speedwell (Veronica ‘Twilight’) that we have high hopes for.  And everything we took out (aside from the potentially mildewy phlox) will be replanted in another garden. Gail calls it “Musical Plants” and we do a different version of that cake walk every year. There’s nothing like moving boring old perennials to another garden to rejuvenate our interest in them. Do you do that too? (- Do you ever move them to a friend’s garden and then want them back again?)

When I decided on the title for this post it occurred to me to mention conditioning flowers for arranging. Our volunteer flower arrangers are starting work this week and tomorrow Gail or I will cut tulips for Terri who is leading the pack. (Once or twice over the course of the season, each volunteer arranger will make two arrangements for the house with flowers and foliage we cut from the grounds.) Tulips are pretty easy as cut flowers go: Cut them before they’ve opened and place in plenty of water with a leaf or two still attached. They’ll keep growing in the vase and according to Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers by Linda Beutler, they prefer sugary water to bleachy and should last 10 days. My favorite trick for keeping the stems straight is to drop a penny in the vase – but sometimes a graceful flop is a lovely development. Do you cut your tulips or leave them in the garden?

The landscape is changing before our very eyes. Plants have taken advantage of the recent heatwavelet to push out leaves, flowers and seeds like it’s their job and they’re putting in for overtime. I’m astonished to look up and see nearly fully clothed trees – I thought I had been paying attention but it’s happening so quickly now. I’ve been told that it’s every New Englander’s birthright to complain about the weather and we are given special dispensation to whine about the brevity of spring. I have to admit that even though I like to think I have a Pollyanna-ish appreciation for all kinds of weather and a keen eye out for spring, I’ve been whining a little louder this year too. Wouldn’t we all like the tulips to hold on, the cherry trees and magnolias to keep blooming, and the trees to stay nearly naked in their feather soft lingerie a little longer? – Or is it just me?

Like the trees, we’ve taken advantage of the sun and warm temperatures too and are keeping ahead of schedule. Gail’s new mantra is “we’ll plant something everyday and it will all get done.” We’ve got another 8 weeks or so of planting ahead of us and if we keep up our industrious pace, we’ll be done in … I would guess … maybe 7 weeks. On Tuesday the Deadheads planted the sweet peas right on schedule – they graciously allowed me to take my annual chorus-line shot of them. And Wednesday the Rockettes tackled planting lettuce, cabbages, Swiss chard, beets, pansies, orlaya and calendula in the Display Garden bed that we have designated The Potager.  Gail and I wrestled the crowning agave into the (almost) exact center of the ellipse and are crossing our fingers that we won’t have a frost. The weeds, of course, are putting in overtime too and the Florabundas had their work cut out for them yesterday in the Rose Garden. (Gail and I planted peonies. – Plant something every day!)

Now that the weather has turned gray and rainy, we’ll complain a bit about that too. But everything recently planted will take the opportunity to get straight to work.

What is working overtime right now in your garden? – Are you?