This spring is feeling exactly like one of those Jack-in-the-box wind-up toys. The crank handle has been winding … winding … winding … winding until just when I gave up really expecting it anymore, it POPPED open. The last couple of days I have been having the same kind of adrenaline spasm I used to love (and dread a little bit) as a kid.

It just seems like spring has been going along at a measured pace and even holding back a little. But after a rainy spell and a couple of actually warm days, spring has shifted into a higher gear. The daffodils are just about all out here now, early and late at once and the early ones, if you look closely, are finally beginning to go by. Tulips are colored buds one day and open the next. Leaves are emerging on trees and shrubs and looking almost full-sized by the afternoon. Quick-quick.

We’ve been going along too; steadily keeping up and holding back. Until today. Now it seems as if everything needs to happen all at once – yesterday. We’re getting plant orders in, shifting plants out of the greenhouse and others in, and we’ve started to plant and transplant in the gardens as if there’s no tomorrow.

But of course there is a tomorrow. Just because spring is picking up the pace doesn’t necessarily mean we gardeners will fall behind. To me, the must-do list seems impossibly long only right up until we start doing it. And while the work always takes less time than I think it will, spring also tends to linger longer than it ever feels like it will. There’s still plenty of time to breathe and enjoy it.

Have you felt a Jack-in-the-box jolt too? Do you feel like you can keep up with spring’s pace?

We know it’s fall – that it’s still only October – by the color of sky and the leaves on -and off- the trees. Temperatures tell a different story. The last few days have so been beautifully warm and sunny that planting the bulbs was a (day)dream-job and not a chore at all. But even though the weather was so mild and spring-like, it still felt a little strange to be thinking so much about that distant season right now. That said, it doesn’t feel half as strange to think about spring now as it did in August when we sent out our order.

Since then I had completely forgotten what we ordered and which gardens all of the bulbs were intended for. Thank goodness we wrote it down. (If only our gardens intern Lilah had pasted the pictures in our garden notebooks like she had done in years past… She wasn’t slacking. I blame myself for misplacing the extra catalog somewhere within the chaos of the potting shed.)

We’ve got some pretty pink and yellow tulips going into the Rose Garden – including many more Lady Janes because we loved them so much, along with chionodoxa and more snow drops for the dry shade bed. The North Garden has a new scheme too that includes ‘China Town’, which is a pink and green tulip with variegated foliage that we trialed in the Cutting Garden last year. And the Cutting Garden was planted with last year’s favorites from the Rose and North gardens along with a few new to try -  like ‘Antoinette’, ‘Perestroyka’, and ‘Lemon Snow Parrot’. We also tucked a few special treats like foxtail lily and fritillaria into the display beds. I’d say I can’t wait to see them all bloom, but the fact is, I can wait. I’m not ready for spring and because fall is so lovely I don’t want to even think ahead to spring quite yet. So I’m going to put the tulip lists and catalogs away, completely forget what we planted, and just look forward to being surprised come April.

Are you thinking ahead to spring? – I know you are if you’re planting bulbs. Are you also trying not to think ahead too much? (Are you thinking of Christmas yet? The mansion is already a whirlwind of decorating activity – I’m definitely not ready for that.)

Waves of excitement have washed over me all spring long – it’s really been such an extraordinary season with so much coming into bloom early and then lingering. Since it’s all been about two weeks ahead, we’re on track now for the first week of June blooms – and right on time (?) the Chestnut rose is beginning to open!

Even when the season isn’t pushing us forward, we gardeners often cast ahead – especially when we’re in planting-mode, like now. Every year Gail and I try new designs, new plants, new combinations. We’re getting to exercise our creative muscles every day (a river of sedum!) and follow through on ideas that have been percolating and incubating since last summer (a Display Garden bed of bold textures and deep colors!). And I’m getting so psyched to see it all come together.

Simply being creative in the garden can sometimes be all the inspiration we need to be even more creative – like any muscle, it gets stronger the more we use it. But there’s nothing like talking to another gardener to really get the ideas and enthusiasm flowing. A few years ago Gail and I jumped at the chance to hear a talk by Fergus Garrett. Fergus, of course, is head gardener at Great Dixter, which is the home of the late Christopher Lloyd and one of the most inspiring gardens in the world, whether you’ve been there or not (I have not). Fergus spoke on how to plan and plant for a succession of blooms and made it look so easy. We have been jazzed to follow his advice in our gardens ever since – especially the North Garden where we just took out the tulips to make way for swaths of annuals and tender perennials whose blooms will carry us through the summer into fall.

And that’s why, when Gail and I heard that Fergus Garrett is coming here – to Blithewold! on Sunday, June 27 (12-2pm), we just about went over the moon. His talk will be about the gardens of Great Dixter and his work with the Great “Christo”. So if you’re looking for a little push to get psyched about your own garden – or even if you’re already excited about it – you should absolutely not miss this event. Click here to register.

Are you flexing your creative muscles in the garden? Do you try different things every year? Will you be joining us on June 27th? – Let me know and I’ll save you a seat!

It’s always a little frustrating for me when Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens) falls on the weekend. So much more will be open tomorrow! But for the very nearly middle of May, there’s plenty to see and much more on the way. It’s actually amazing, considering how many things are blooming on the property – and blooming early – that we’re experiencing The May Gap.  We typically cross the gap at the end of the month.

The North Garden and Rose Garden are on the quiet side today. That said, in the North Garden the Trollius ‘Lemon Queen’ and perennial bachelor buttons (Centaurea montana) are blooming more exuberantly than I’ve ever seen them. And there are still a couple of clumps of tulips in the picture. I have to say that Tulip ‘Jackpot’ gets my vote for all-around-best tulip this year. It was among the first to arrive and is the very last to leave. – Not winning behavior for an overbearing party guest but we certainly appreciate it in a flower.

The Rose Garden gap will close in the next couple of days as roses (a couple of them are starting!) and Oriental poppies, allium and peonies open. I waited as long as I could for this poppy to open… I might have to stop through the garden again on my way home…

And in the Rock Garden, the tree peony which looked like this (below, right) this morning, is probably wide open now that the sun has come out. Maybe I’ll take a walk down there too… The last couple of years, the tree peonies opened 10-12 days later.

In the Water Garden, the best blooms are in the water – there are gajillions of tadpoles! (They are such tricky little buggers to try to photograph. Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Are you surprised by any of your mid-May blooms? Did you jump up and down or otherwise intervene to get any to open just a little sooner? (Not that I did that. Well, maybe just a little.)

It’s official and I have the pictures to prove it. For the first time since I started this blog, I won’t be repeating myself on bloom day. The usual cast of mid-May characters are blooming now! Which isn’t to say that some won’t still be blooming on the 15th – but by then a whole new group will probably be showing off in front of my camera.

I don’t usually pay much attention to rose buds at this time of year but I might guess from the looks of these, they might not wait until June to open…

It’s interesting to see the exuberance of the heat-triggered bloomers and fully leafed out trees in contrast with the plants that take their cue from day length. The temperature sensitive ones are the gamblers willing to take a chance on frost and the timing of pollinators for the pay off of a possibly longer season. But “late” ones strike me as the smart ones. It’s as if they know something everyone else doesn’t.

We gardeners are left to wonder and speculate about the rest of the season. Do early blooms signify a longer season or will winter come two weeks sooner? (I can’t believe I just said that.) Will we sail through the North Garden’s May gap on June flowers or will there be a lingering bloom delay after the tulips are well and truly done? Should we take our cues from the gamblers and risk planting annuals ahead of our usual schedule or should we play it safe and wait?

We’ll actually do a bit of both here. May’s full moon – our usual cue for getting the annuals in the ground – is as late this year as everything else is early. So we’ll just watch the weather. Because the tulips in the Rose Garden have gone by, we’ll start there. We’ll take them out and in their place plant the cold-hardiest of the annuals/tender perennials first. The North Garden tulips are still looking stunning so we’ll wait one more week at least before taking them out by which time we’ll be right on our usual track in that garden – ready to plant by the last week in May.

I’ve noticed that some garden centers already have a few annuals out for sale. Will you wait or take a chance on planting now?