On the one hand, I can hardly help but want to group plants together and if there’s a pot big enough for everyone, I’m all for it. And there are places in our gardens that truly demand a mixed container, such as the entrance gate, wedding tent, and porte-cochère. I spent the last two weeks debating buying what seemed to be a behemoth new container (made of very light-weight and hopefully winter-durable resin) for our entrance. I knew the one we were using was way too small but it took Gail’s reassurance and actually seeing the new pot situated to realize that there’s almost no such thing as “too big” for a solitary container placed outside.

I’ve been pretty lucky with these mixed containers in the last few years (last year in particular) but I attribute their success (and by success I mean that they don’t need to be watered more than twice a week) to one very important factor: They’re in partial shade – receiving only morning sun. Glazed or plastic pots obviously hold the moisture longer and I think relying heavily on perennials (or tender perennials) with interesting foliage rather than flowers has helped too. Most of my favorite container plants – such as hakonechloa, farfugium, hypericum, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, and hydrangea will also grow slowly enough in confinement to not overtake their neighbors.

But for the container beds by the greenhouse I would much rather group singletons in pots than plant up a bunch of mixed combinations – for a couple of reasons: One of the beds is in full sun, and in my experience, mixed pots in full sun are a constant struggle. There’s more competition for soil moisture and inevitably something dies and leaves a gaping hole or one thing overtakes and might as well have been planted by itself. (Obviously I haven’t hit the exactly right full-sun combo yet.) With singletons on the other hand, wimps can be babied and tucked behind athletes at least until they’re tough enough to compete. The whole bed can be rearranged on a whim, and as a nester and obsessive futzer, I’m all for that. The only difficulty is pairing pot to plant. But even that is a challenge I look forward to every year. And I have to admit that I never really mind if something like fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) or violets seed themselves in, and so most of our singletons are actually couples.

Do you prefer mixed containers or singletons – or do you have places for both too?

Sometimes I still feel like a backseat whiner. I should know better than to complain out loud because as a kid, whenever I asked, “are we there yet?”, my Mom would only reply cryptically, “10 and a little!” But I’m impatient to be done with the planting (10 and a little!); moved out of the greenhouse (10 and a little! – but at least I got the shading on today); and I’m already exhausted and my back aches. (Do you want some cheese with your whine?) But it’s June and even if we haven’t planted everything yet (this week!) and gotten all of the leaf mulch or buckwheat hulls on the beds and gardens before the heat hits (tomorrow), the gardens at least have arrived at their next destination. Just as the rhodies began to fade, the peonies popped. The delphinium are skyscrapers and the roses are so close to a peaking burst of bloom that I’ve been visiting that garden just to ask, “Aren’t we there yet?”

I know I have made the claim in recent years that the roses have never looked better. You already know that over the last several years we have replaced a few weaklings, inter-planted the Rose Garden with perennials, shrubs and annuals, finally put all of the roses on a fertilizing schedule (April, June – last week, in fact – and August), raked up spotty leaves twice weekly and and spent untold hours watering them by hand. This year we’ve been able to give the roses even more of what they’ve been desperately crying out for. Now I really mean it (- funny thing is, I meant it before too) but the roses have really, truly never – ever looked better. Their foliage is untouched, deeply green, leathery and glossy, and there are bazillions of buds.

Last fall we amended the soil with compost, which has almost instantly (if winter counts as an instant) improved our compaction problem. But even better, an irrigation system, generously and anonymously donated, and installed this spring has finally slaked their thirst. – They need at least an inch of “rain” a week for optimum health. We will continue to refuse to use chemistry to combat any pests or disease but honestly, I don’t think we’d even need to. Enriched soil with good drainage and regular watering to push the soil’s nutrients to the roots will keep the roses stress-free and lovely and as close to perfection as we think any gardener or garden visitor could possibly want. (And thank goodness, we won’t ever have to whine about spending hours watering the Rose Garden again!)

Are your roses in peak bloom yet? (Are you able to refrain from whining?)

I think it might be safe to say that we’ve been even busier than bees in the last couple of days. And by “we” I mostly mean the garden volunteers. Gail, Tara and I placed … must be hundreds! of annuals and tender perennials in the Cutting Garden; a few more in the big Display Garden bed; over a hundred in the North Garden; a baker’s dozen in the Rock Garden; and Dick and Cathy placed dozens of tomatoes in the vegetable bed. And almost faster than we (by “we” I mean Gail, Tara and I) could say “please”, they were planted, fertilized (we use Espoma Bulb-Tone, which is a slow-release granular organic fertilizer with a ratio heavy on phosphorus) and watered.

Even though we (Gail, Tara and I) have been working hard to stay one step ahead of the volunteers – I couldn’t even catch a moment to take pictures as they took the tulips out last week – I’ve found that it’s actually absolutely imperative to pause now and again to take in the changes. The other day I almost couldn’t help but stop for Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum) blooming in the Bosquet: evidently they have never bloomed so abundantly because neither Gail nor I had felt the need to learn its name before. I also don’t ever remember detouring to take in the stunning contrast of flower-like samaras are on the full-moon Japanese maple (Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’). And even if we hadn’t had to get to the Rose Garden to place more plants (another 100 plus for tomorrow’s crew) I would have made a special trip to see the Chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii) and my all-time favorite weird peony (Paeonia ‘Alley Cat’) in full bloom. (Click on pictures for a better view.)

Are you in a planting frenzy in your garden too? And taking time out too, to take it all in?