There has been a lot of speculation ever since Irene blew through that this wouldn’t be a good fall foliage year. Even in the days after the storm the horizon – particularly anything facing south and east – has looked markedly brownish. And then we had our unseasonably freakish snow storm (little more than a dusting here but still…) and it’s easy to just give up and think winter’s here. But we’ve had lots of  days of lovely fall weather interspersed among the ugly days (we’re enjoying a blissful spell right now) and there is plenty of fall color. Pockets of it. We just have to look a little closer.

Despite the freakishly unseasonable weather that might make us think it’s too late to plant bulbs, it absolutely isn’t. We were able to stay right on schedule – this sunny and warm post-nor’easter week is a bulb planter’s dream. We were able to wait until frost (erm… snow) to take out the last of our annuals and dahlias – amazingly some still haven’t been fully hit despite cold nights. But out they came to make way for bulbs. The Deadheads planted over 1000 tulips and alliums in the cutting garden and other display garden beds on Tuesday; Over 300 more in the North Garden that same day; and this morning the Rockettes planted 1800 little bulbs in the Rose Garden (Chionodoxa, Puschkinia, Fritillaria, Anemone…) Tomorrow the Florabundas will finish up planting something like 400 more tulips and alliums in the Rose Garden. No matter how weird the weather is this coming spring we can look forward to (amazing) pockets of color then too.

This marks the last official work-week in the gardens for the garden volunteers (they still have the big Christmas tree to decorate) and our intern Tara who saw us through a full growing season. Gail and I will really miss everyone’s smiles, good-natured growls (Toni), hard work, stories, dedication and easy company. Come by for tea any time!

Are you finding – or planting – pockets of color too?

The North Garden Star Wall Project has officially begun! (The wall, 100 years old this month, will be restored this winter.) Yesterday Team Rockette dug and hauled hundreds of pounds of perennials out of the two beds along the North Star wall and southeast side and heeled them in the vegetable bed (readied by Team Deadhead on Tuesday) for the winter. They also unceremoniously pitched all of the annuals along with moldy-old Phlox paniculata ‘David’ (it may be mildew resistant for awhile but for us, no longer) and anything infested with goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria), which over the last few years has insidiously reentered the North Garden in a number of places.

As hard as the work was yesterday – we all needed restorative naps afterwards – I kept thinking about how much easier it was, psychically at least, to do a major renovation project now as opposed to spring. As hard as it is to cut back or take out late season flowers that the bees and butterflies are still working, I find it much more difficult to move or destroy anything with fresh growth full of the season’s potential. And fall weather is much more reliably cooperative too. The ground is still warm so plants’ roots can take hold easily and there’s plenty of rain in the forecast. As much as we’d like to be able to get back into the North Garden with Team Florabunda, today’s rain is helping yesterday’s transplants settle into to their temporary home. The timing for that is also perfect. As long as you’re careful to not plant wherever you’d want to sow the early crops next spring (and we were careful) a vegetable garden makes a brilliant holding bed for anyone that doesn’t have space for a dedicated nursery bed.

We still have to get the roses (Ballerina) and hydrangeas (Limelight) out and sundry back row denizens but we’re nearly there thanks to the Rockettes – and the Tuesday Deadheads – (we could not have done this without them) and we’re right on schedule despite the rain. Stay tuned for progress reports and maybe even a discussion about all of the ideas being floated about potential design tweaks. (If the garden is going to be under the mayhem of construction, why not think about making a change or two? – Always preserving the family’s intentions, of course.)

Are you starting a big project now too? Do you prefer to do the work in spring or fall?

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?

If I had been less distracted by tulips and planting gardens this week I might have remembered to promote an excellent event that has brought all sorts of people who had never before heard of Blithewold (perish the thought!) here today. Members of the American Public Gardens Association opened their doors all across the country to those in the know (National Public Gardens Day was promoted by Better Homes & Gardens this year) and as the only open garden in Rhode Island we’ve seen lots of new faces. It’s wonderful! And I hope we see them again.

After all, we don’t do all of the planting we did this week (about 600 new and transplanted plants went in the ground) for our own amusement. (Not that I’m not amused because I totally am.) And even though we’ve told everyone we talked to that we planted for the pollinators, we didn’t actually plant it just for the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. We did it – we do all of it including the weeding, raking, mowing, sowing, watering and deadheading – for you, our human visitors and our beloved members. And we hope you’re thoroughly amused. And maybe inspired too.

Where else but a public garden can you see so many tulips labeled for easy decision making come July catalog time? And where else but Blithewold can you stroll in the sunshine along the waters edge and then through the deep shade of a bamboo grove?

Did you visit a public garden today? Were you inspired? Did you become a member?