When it’s pouring rain outside, the greenhouse is definitely the best place to be. It’s not exactly warm on a gray day and it’s not completely dry either but it is full of summer’s promise. Visitors can’t help asking if the plants are for sale. It’s a good question because I’d want them for my own garden too. But, alas, they are not for sale – at least not here. Everything in the greenhouse is destined for Blithewold’s gardens. We have some new plants that I’m especially excited about and just in case you might be too, here’s the scoop on where you can find them:

Avant Gardens is selling a new (it’s new to us – is it new to the world?) hummingbird mint – Agastache ‘Summer Glow’. If it glows anything like the picture on the tag I’m smitten and I don’t even love yellow. Those will go in the North Garden. They are also selling this adorable violet with pewter leaves (Viola walteri ‘Silver Gem’.) Anything that looks like jewelry really needs to be planted in the jewel box of our Rock Garden.

Annie’s Annuals, a mail order source on the other coast, is selling a hook sedge (Uncinia uncinata ‘Rubra’) that promises to turn garnet red in the garden. I suppose they should go in the Rock Garden too but I’ve had my eye on them for a necklace of containers. A speckled leaved honesty (Lunaria annua ‘Rosemary Verey’) from Annie’s will find a spot in the Display Garden and I hope-hope-hope it comes true from seed next year.

Dahlia ‘Kaili’, which came in exactly a month ago as a rooted cutting from Corralitos Gardens, another mail order source from California that specializes in the prettiest dahlias, is already fulfilling its promise. We can be certain that it, ‘Golden Cloud’, ‘Granville’, and ‘Bishop of York’ will be gorgeous planted in the North Garden.

With more and more people planting vegetables, they are easier and easier to find as starts at almost any nursery or farmer’s market. We grew these tomatoes from seed from several different sources including Baker Creek and Johnny’s. I can’t wait for my first Sungold snack…

Have you found plants you’re excited about this year? What are they, and where can we buy them?

… but most spring flowers don’t. It hasn’t yet reached the temperature that was forecast for today (82!) but it’s definitely warmer than most things want to be so early in spring. As much as I hate to have to say it, the daffodils are now officially past their peak. Not to worry though because the tulips have taken over the show. Of course, warm temperatures this week might make some of them a passing  fancy too. But then, that’s what spring is all about. This is definitely the week to take a day off to sit under the cherry trees as they snow, breathe in the heavy scent of winter hazel, listen to the frogs sing, take a photo essay of faded flowers, and celebrate the preciousness of life. Since every day is bloom day from now on, here’s a small sample of passing fancies for a hot and sunny Monday.

To see what else is blooming (and passing by) all over the country and the world, visit May Dreams Gardens.

Yesterday a reporter from one of the local papers called to ask about the daffodils. She wondered when they would bloom; are they early; how long would they last; and what comes next? A very popular barrage of questions for this time of year.

I could tell her – and I’ll tell you – that they’re blooming now and I’ll even go so far as to guess that they’ll probably start peaking next week and continue into our Daffodil Days celebration that starts on the 1st of April. They are early – a good two or three weeks early and there’s no way to know how long they’ll last. Cool temperatures, particularly at night helps prolong the show – next week promises so far to be cooler than this – and we have a good variety of early and late bloomers so unless we’re hit with a heatwave, the show should go on for a few weeks altogether.

She asked what would we DO if the daffodils went by quickly?! Do? Besides enjoying it while it lasts, and trying to keep up, there’s nothing to do. Gardeners know there’s no predicting nature. We might be more dialed in than the average non-gardener but only to the extent that we know – and accept – that anything goes.

So what happens after the daffodils bloom? Everything! Tulips for starters. The reporter also wondered when would be the best time to visit Blithewold? Of course, I’m the wrong person to ask because I think it’s beautiful all the time. But you really can’t go wrong to time a visit for May or June. July and August tend to be hot but lovely. September is really spectacular. October too.

But if you love spring and don’t want to miss it, come soon. It is happening fast this year. So fast that if you picked a spot under a maple, next to a cinnamon fern or the winter hazel you could almost watch the changes as they happen. And try not to miss the other spring ephemerals. Our intern, Tricia spotted the very tiniest: new blooms on the European ginger (Asarum europaeum). Not as spectacular as a daffodil perhaps, but I’d have hated to miss it. The gardens and grounds are open.

Are you making any predictions this year? When will your daffodils bloom? Or have they already?