I think I might have an inkling of how parents feel when they realize that their babies have grown up. It seems like the garden is suddenly full of teenagers. I have to crane my neck to look at some of them and a few are clumsily in my way or gangly with giant feet and terrible posture. They need prompting and prodding to stand up straight just like I did when I was 14 going on 30. And same as then I still have crushes on the tallest… plants.

We’ve been diligently staking the dahlias all along, mostly by tying them to sturdy bamboo stakes. They’re so brittle and top heavy that it’s definitely easier to stake them long before they actually need it. In the cutting garden we use concrete reinforcement mesh, raised up on metal peony hoop stakes to help prop up the slouchers. – That system really works the best for plants that have been rowed out. And of course the trick with staking is hiding the stakes to make it look like nothing ever needed staking in the first place.

We used to lash burnet (Sanguisorba tenuifolia) against a fence to keep it from falling over and now that it’s out in the middle of the pollinator bed, I’ve tried sliding the beefiest bamboo stakes diagonally into the ground to give the stems something to lean on. I have to readjust the props almost daily especially if it’s been windy or rainy but I prefer the loose look of that to corralling the stems with string. It’s funny that they have such terrible posture given the grace and airiness of the flowers and how big their feet are (the larges foliage is at the base.)

And if I had remembered how big anise hyssop gets (we planted Agastache ‘Black Adder’ this year) I might not have placed it right next to the path. It stands up straight on its own but we’ve had to push it back with stakes (same method as the burnet) because it and its legion of bees are in everybody’s way.

Do you love the tall plants too? What do you do to improve their posture?

Blithewold has got to be one of the prettiest places for a wedding: there’s nothing like being surrounded by on all sides by a glorious garden, and framed by a sweeping view of the Bay to make one of the greatest events in a couple’s life even more special and spectacular. For every couple who chooses this place for their wedding, it becomes an important part of their story but I would have to guess that not since Marjorie Van Wickle was wed here to George Lyon has Blithewold been such a huge part of a couple’s life as it is for our own Julie Murphy and Dan Christina (Blithewold’s education coordinator and asst. grounds manager.) Dan and Julie met and fell in love here!

Blithewold is written indelibly on nearly every page of their story and to those of us who have been a witness all along (or almost all along – they kept it a secret for a whole year!) to their love for each other, it seemed that there could be no more perfect place on earth for them to exchange vows than Blithewold’s North Garden. And even the rain, which fell on their day like a blessing after weeks of baking sun, was exactly right. They say rain makes the knot tighter but for a pair of horticulturists it also greens up the grass and makes their garden grow.

It’s a testament to Julie’s wish that those of us who work at Blithewold not have to work that I didn’t even bring my camera. But I wished I had! Thank goodness Gail had hers and took such excellent shots. Gail also had the honor of assisting garden volunteer Terry Converse who made all of the gorgeous flower arrangements, which were dotted with flowers and foliage grown with Julie’s colors in mind and picked from the property. The wedding really couldn’t have been lovelier – or more Blithewold.

Julie and Dan, may your life together continue to be full of love, laughter, and the riotous abundance of an August garden after a rainstorm! Sláinte!

(All pictures in this post were taken by Gail Read. Click on for larger view.)