Maybe it’s the influence of living through the hoopla surrounding the 4th of July in Bristol, RI (home of the longest running – and longest marching – 4th of July parade in the country) but it seems like life is eventful at the moment.

Last Friday Gail and I celebrated the last hurdle hurdled before our July 4th week got-to-get-the-gardens-in deadline by a marathon planting of the newest Display Garden bed. Even though we were still tucking things in today, it feels like a major event to be officially finished planting!

After finishing that on Friday (and after scraping the most of the dirt from my fingernails and elbow wrinkles) I tagged along to the last garden in Blithewold’s Intimate Garden Tour Series. Our hosts welcomed the group with open arms and showed us what it means to actually live within the landscape – this was no mere garden! (Not that I’m dissing mere gardens – I, myself have one of those.) I have to say honestly that I didn’t expect to covet the house or even the property – 40 acres along a branch of the Westport River (erm, why wouldn’t I want that?). The house is ultra moderne but so site specific – it was designed and built for exactly that spot, no other – and really blurred the boundaries between inside and out which is what they were going for. It works in the dreamiest way possible. One of the couple is a landscape architect and rather than build things like a lot LAs do, he talked about “editing” the landscape. Sure there were elements they added but most of their touch was felt in care-full revealing of views. Sublime and sweet and magnificent all at once and although I can’t bring much of what they did “home” with me, I feel richer for seeing how elegantly it can be done. I’m only sorry that this was the last tour of the season and can’t encourage you to join the group for the next one.

I can encourage you to join us for Blithewold’s evening soirées – the next one is in the North Garden on July 16th – click here for details. That same week the Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs is presenting a flower show at Blithewold. Their gala is on July 17th and the show is open on the 18th and 19th. I haven’t found any information on line about how to or whether you can enter your own arrangements and horticultural specimens (and win as many blue ribbons as possible) so if you’re interested in finding out more, ask your favorite garden club member. Meanwhile, I’ll do the same and hopefully have more to tell you about it next time…

Seeing this fellow (and many others) in the last of the shredded leaf pile was eventful for the volunteers and me this morning. Anyone know what it’s going to grow up to be?

Finally the most major event in my recent days is a visit from none other than the famous and favorite Layanee of Ledge and Gardens! Thank you for the strawberries and I hope the sweet peas made the long ride home without wilting!

and it seems like a whole week has gone by – everything is happening so fast now! For a taste of what yesterday looked like at Blithewold, head right over to Ledge and Gardens. It’s so fun to see Blithewold through another’s eyes – but I’m really sorry that I missed Layanee’s visit!

I ran around this morning trying to catch up with all the changes. The Korean Spice Bush (Viburnum carlesii) is beginning to bloom and smells divine – if only we had virtual scratch and sniff! Last year we planted a compact form (Viburnum carlesii ‘Compactum’) in the Rose Garden – it looks (and smells) like a perfect shrub for a small garden. I’m putting it on my own-garden wish list…

The Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) are up all of a sudden along with epimediums that apparently leafed out and began to bloom over night. And the tulips are opening before our very eyes.

The warm spell is a mixed blessing – the daffodils are still peaking but the first ones (the ‘Ice Follies’ especially) are beginning to go by. Good thing there are so many other spring beauties opening up! The weekend still looks good weather wise – don’t let a little rain in the forecast for Sunday slow you down – we’re having an open house in the greenhouse! Gail and Julie will be here from 1 – 4 and our favorite garden books will be out on the potting bench for you to flip through. We’re busy getting the place spiffed now — we needed a good excuse to tidy up!

It’s hard to compete with a street fair, a Touch-a-Truck (“some had air horns!” said one kiddo I know), a nearby harvest festival with do-it-yourself scarecrows, a working waterfront festival a few towns over and a gorgeous warm breezy sunny day that made being out on the water requisite for anyone with access to a boat — BUT Blithewold’s Fall Gardener’s Day was where the gardeners were. I was hoping to meet fellow bloggers and readers but alas you attended incognito and in spirit – those who were here must have caught my shy bug — it’s going around… I was even going to take a guess-who shoe portrait! (If you look really closely, you can see the hazy outlines of at least a dozen pairs of feet who were nearly here – and guess who?!)

Most of my day I bounced from the Blithewold plant sale table (where I was camped to sell begonias, clivias, figs and other greenhouse babies) to the other vendors’ booths where I spent considerably more than I earned that day! I caught snippets of lectures and eavesdropped on rave reviews. By the sound of it Andrew Grossman had everyone rethinking their garden design, Lisa Gibson McMahon sent everyone home with beyond-frost salad starts and Barney Webster spawned a few water gardener wanna-bees. And everyone learned something new from flower drying and arranging, fall container planting, and pruning, to what will change for gardeners as the climate changes.

Just because Fall Gardener’s Day is behind us (and ahead – mark your 2008 calendar) doesn’t mean we’re done showing off the garden – the kaleidoscope continues! And Jake (who answers to many other names) has appointed himself cutest greeter – can you stand it?!

It’s been a busy week of pretty light, projects and laughs – here’s a little review in pictures.

On Tuesday morning the last (?) Lotus bud opened up.

On Wednesday, the volunteers had an extra helper — Julie, our director of horticulture belongs to Tara, a Tibetan comedian diva who just says “poo” to the no-dogs-allowed-at-Blithewold rule. Dogs generally seem to have a different kind of (dis)respect for the gardens than we do… Dog loving readers, would you agree?

Because I liked how these pictures came out, here’s another daylily ‘Autumn Minaret’.

I was inspired by this blogger (thank you for the bakery treats, Layanee!) who was inspired by another to get down low in the garden. Here’s an on-my-knees shot of the arbor in the Idea Beds through the Agastache ‘Summer Breeze’.

And finally, the week in review ends in the North Garden with Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ and the North Star wall.

Happy Labor Day! Until next Tuesday – Garden On!

This past week everyone on the staff has had a certain look on their face – a focused, single-minded and frenzied sort of glaze – because Blithewold’s Annual Meeting is tonight. And everything must. be. perfect! Reports were written and rewritten, speeches have been practiced (“I want to thank the Academy…”), smart looking outfits have been pressed and set aside, and all the gardens have been gone over with a fine toothed weeder and each open flower was inspected for beauty and eligibility. Yesterday the Deadheads poured over the whole Display Garden – and weeded out the last and toughest bed. I would have loved to take a picture when they were all bent over under the smoke bush looking like so many of that funny cutout lawn ornament. But to publish such a picture would have been unkind of me! (You have to know, it’s the hardest thing to take a picture of the volunteers working and NOT shoot that pose!) Today the Rockettes attended to four gardens giving the whole place a last minute spruce and I think we can safely say we’re ready. Now if only it was a little less bitter cold! (I’m going to have to run home for mittens and a knit cap).

Chilly temps might keep our members from wandering all the way over to the Display Garden this evening, but if they do come by they might notice this lovely lady blooming right now. (I couldn’t wait for Gardener’s Bloom Day to show this one!…) It’s Campanula ‘Kent Belle’. This is a blooming beauy too of a different sort altogether – Check out the shoes!!.

Newsflash – This just in!: Layanee stopped by! I feel like I have arrived. And it was oddly reassuring to meet a fellow blogger in person – we’re really real people hanging out in this virtual world!  I can’t wait to see your pictures, Layanee!