Do you ever round a bend in your garden, maybe coming from a direction you don’t usually, and gasp at how pretty it looks? I hope so because it’s the best, most giddy feeling. Yesterday I walked up to the North Garden from the water side of the house, not my usual route to the garden, and even though it was almost too hot to care, I was amazed at its colors and exuberance. When the garden was redesigned this past winter I was a little nervous about the new corner bed by the stone bench, imagining that those right angles might feel a little harsh. No longer. Now I can’t believe there ever wasn’t a bed and path there. I’m thrilled about how everything has grown in so quickly and am head over heels for a few of our new plants too.

I never really appreciated yarrow until we planted Achillea millefolium ‘Pink Grapefruit’ in the herb bed a couple of years ago. Now I can’t get enough of its clouds and wouldn’t mind seeing them in every garden. There are enough varieties and color choices that we could really shake it up. The one in the North Garden is ‘Terra Cotta’. It’s more golden than I thought it would be but just orange enough for true love.

Turning that corner in the garden I was also able to re-appreciate a couple of plants that I’ve become bored and annoyed with. Long leaf speedwell (Veronica longifolia) is one. I can’t stand that it needs hooping to stand up straight and absolutely hate that we forgot to do that this year. But look at how sublime those blooms are in this monochromatic combo with Geranium ‘Rozanne’. I’ve had just about enough of that one too because we planted it in so many gardens (food for thought regarding my current obsession with yarrow) but removing her is not an option because she’s too darn perfect and willing to bloom for practically ever. As for the speedwell, we’ll have to sacrifice a few flowers and try whacking it back maybe next week. (Annie at Annie’s Annuals recommends offing it 10″ from the ground for a later rebloom.)

Has your garden surprised you lately? What are the plants you’re especially thrilled with right now? Are you patting yourself on the back for making excellent choices? (Or kicking yourself for missed opportunities?)

I don’t know if it’s normal to set a July 4th deadline to get everything planted in the garden or if we choose that date because in Bristol, RI all roads and all days of the year lead there. Bristol boasts the longest running Fourth of July parade in the whole world (this is its 227th year) and Bristolians take the celebration very seriously. Gardens and yards all over town – even off the parade route – are primped to garden tour standards and (almost) every house is draped in yards of bunting, festooned with banners, and flying flags from every flagpole and yardarm. A full year of preparation goes into the celebration, which starts officially on June 14, Flag Day. After a concert series, an orange crate derby, nightly unofficial fireworks, a carnival, a drum corps showdown and official fireworks, the celebration crescendos with an hours-long parade of floats, firetrucks, and amazing marching bands from all over the country that follows miles of red, white, and blue stripe down Hope and High Streets. It’s a sight to be seen – every year if it’s your favorite thing – or at least once in a lifetime.

Even though we have this event to look forward to and mark our days by,we really shoot to have everything out of the greenhouse and planted by now more because we can count on it to get even hotter and more humid from here on in. We can’t keep watering nursery pots and watching plants suffer as they’re desperate to take advantage of the weather and grow. Because we have a lot of to-dos on our list, a specific deadline always helps keep us focused on the most important things. This year we’re in good shape to make our goal: the greenhouse is almost completely empty – there are just a few plants left that need to go in the container garden, and as of this blistering morning, we planted most of the last annuals and tender perennial stock plants in the Display Garden.

To me that’s a good enough reason to celebrate the fourth – all roads and all days have led to this moment too. Not that it ends here for us by any means. There are plenty of other things to get on with, like enjoying the gardens’ own ongoing fireworks display. The picture above left doesn’t do justice to the most massive delphinium I’ve ever seen (there is something almost blasphemous about Delphinium ‘Pagan Purples’ – the spike is well over my head and as fat as my thigh); and Agastache ‘Acapulco Orange’ (which overwintered in the garden) and the betony and red hot poker combination make us all exclaim,”Ooo! Ahhh!” – and from now until fall our only deadlines will be daily ones to keep the gardens bursting in air.

Do you set a planting deadline in your garden too? Do you celebrate the 4th?