If I had been less distracted by tulips and planting gardens this week I might have remembered to promote an excellent event that has brought all sorts of people who had never before heard of Blithewold (perish the thought!) here today. Members of the American Public Gardens Association opened their doors all across the country to those in the know (National Public Gardens Day was promoted by Better Homes & Gardens this year) and as the only open garden in Rhode Island we’ve seen lots of new faces. It’s wonderful! And I hope we see them again.

After all, we don’t do all of the planting we did this week (about 600 new and transplanted plants went in the ground) for our own amusement. (Not that I’m not amused because I totally am.) And even though we’ve told everyone we talked to that we planted for the pollinators, we didn’t actually plant it just for the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. We did it – we do all of it including the weeding, raking, mowing, sowing, watering and deadheading – for you, our human visitors and our beloved members. And we hope you’re thoroughly amused. And maybe inspired too.

Where else but a public garden can you see so many tulips labeled for easy decision making come July catalog time? And where else but Blithewold can you stroll in the sunshine along the waters edge and then through the deep shade of a bamboo grove?

Did you visit a public garden today? Were you inspired? Did you become a member?

Everybody loves babies, right? They’re so tiny and soft and fuzzy; totally precious and addictively photogenic. I am completely enamored with spring’s tiny toes and can’t get enough of (almost) all of its smells. I’m so glad I remembered to visit the Dove tree (Davidia involucrata) to ogle and take endless photographs of its infant blossoms (one of last year’s baby pictures was chosen for our spring newsletter cover) and I’ll be a little bit impressed if you know some of these other babies… (cheaters and the stumped may hover over for captions and click on for a larger view.)

I don’t remember ever noticing beech blooms before… (Just because the daffodils are going by and Daffodil Days are over, doesn’t mean there aren’t thousands of other flowers to be positively overwhelmed by.)

I know that people also take baby pictures as a way to measure their progress through life and that’s why I try to remember to take a moment out of the frenzy of activity for early shots of our gardens too. I caught the Display Garden at the very moment Gail and I placed about 300 new (mostly) perennials for pollinators in the “big bed” (we need a better name for it now. The Bee’s Knees? The Bee Happy bed? Please help!) and the herb garden. I only wish I had a chance to capture the Deadheads planting everything, along with our brandy-new intern Tara, who, since she started just yesterday and is able to stay on into October, will be with the gardens from very the moment of their birth to the end of their days in the fall. Welcome Tara!

Have noticed any new-to-you babies this year? (Are you as into newborn portraiture as I am?) And do you take pictures of your garden’s infancy too?