Now that the heat of April is behind us, we’re taking full advantage of the coolness and rain of May. The weather is a little backwards but we’ll take what we can get when it comes to planting weather. With a few days of rain in the forecast we were really thrilled to have a dry day today and a good crew to start putting in some of our cool-season annuals. We planted tassel flower (Emilia javanica) in what promises to be a stunning combination with annual campion (Viscaria occulata ‘Blue Angel’). We also planted calendula, Salvia claryssa (a diminutive clary sage), some pretty tough looking bee’s friend (Phacelia tanacetifolia), golden feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium ‘Aureum’), Virginia stock (Malcolmia maritima), ornamental kale ‘Sunset’, and honeywort (Cerinthe major var. purpurescens ‘Kiwi Blue’) among other various and sundry things I’ve already forgotten.

In some places we had to elbow a few volunteers out of the way – volunteer reseeders, that is. You might this this sea of teasel seedlings is horrific but I like to think of them as a really excellent weed barrier. Nothing can penetrate that mat but it was quick work to delete a few to make room for a new little border of clary sage. And with any luck that will seed itself around too.

All of the garden’s newest tenants will be happy to have cloudy skies and plenty of rain (fingers crossed) to help them settle in. And now we have more room under the arbor for “hardening off” the next batch of plants to come out of the greenhouse. Tender perennials like Mexican anise hyssop (Agastache spp.), salvias, porterweed (Stachytarpheta spp.), and geraniums (Pelargonium) are next on the list — although all of those might prefer to wait to go out after the rain has stopped. That’s alright because it’s also time to move out some of our container specimen like the camellias, coprosmas, farfugium, and sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans). The shift is on.

Have you started to plant cool-season annuals yet?

Word from our Visitor’s Center is that visitation drops off in May. I can’t imagine why. We might not be promoting daffodils anymore but there is still so much going on here. More and more every day. This week, after the Wednesday volunteer group (The Rockettes) planted the sweet peas along the cutting garden fence, a few of us went down to the Rock Garden. I think it’s safe to say that it has never looked sweeter or more filled in and colorful. And there really wasn’t much for us to do but marvel at its display. I’d hate for anyone to not see it just as it is right now. Pictures don’t do it justice but since the internet prevents me from grabbing you all by the hand to pull you down there, they’ll have to suffice. And if you possibly can carve some time out of your weekend (Sunday is forecast to be the better day) by all means, come see it for yourself. And take a walk by the dove tree on your way. And as you leave, say hey to all the tiny tadpoles keeping warm on the pond rocks.

The Rock Garden highlights for me are an Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’ (second picture from the bottom) that has been steadily increasing since we planted it a couple of years ago but I don’t ever remember it blooming before. So pretty! And good old tiarella. Where has this plant (Tiarella ‘Elizabeth Oliver’) been all my life? Suddenly I’m totally in love. We planted these as plugs, also a couple of years ago, and they are really taking off now, each one as pretty as a picture.

What’s going on in your spring tapestry?

Evidently some plants didn’t quit growing over the winter. I can understand why most gardeners prefer to corral their herbs in pots. I’m not a huge fan of that trick because they seem to hate captivity. It never takes long for mint to plan its great escape, circling the edge of the pot and walking out – sometimes from underneath – when we’re not looking. I’d rather confine it to a corner and keep an eagle eye on it. Plus that saves me from ever having to water it.

But mint, beebalm, and oregano took advantage of my kindness this winter and did their level best to carpet the herb garden. I don’t blame them. It’s a nice garden with rich soil and if the lavender isn’t going to do well, then they might as well take over, right? If those plants were difficult to edit, we’d have been in deep trouble. But their rhizomes are shallow – only thickly matted where they’ve hit an edge and fairly easy to unzip and extricate right now from amongst other plants.  They certainly don’t mind being chopped to bits.

We staked our claim to the garden we wanted back and our newest Deadheads (Welcome, Pam, Helena, Michael! – and welcome back, April!)  removed all but the best pieces of each plant with cathartic and well-placed spade chops. I’m pretty sure they (and those herbs) will be back for more good garden fun. Do you plant your your mint in the ground or in pots – or in pots in the ground?

The weeds are a little bit ferocious this year too. Yesterday the Rockettes gave it their all to remove onion grass from the Rock Garden. It looks so sweet down there right now. The arabis is blooming away; the epimedium are just getting cute and Pasque flower is a ball of fuzz, nearly ready to pop open. We would like to think we got all of the weeds out of the way of plants that really deserve that space but a few might come back here and there to give us job security.

And in case you’re wondering, the daffodils are still at their best. If you haven’t come yet, what are you waiting for? — The cherry trees? They’re just starting to bloom now. Spring has definitely staked its claim too.

I know I’m going to start sounding like a broken record but I can’t help going on about how early everything is. I looked up the other day when I was walking my dog and noticed that the maple trees in town are blooming. A full month early according to my notes. Come on. Spring is breaking all over the place and the only thing we can do is try to keep up.

We asked garden volunteers to bundle up (it has been warm but wicked windy) to start working outside. This must be the earliest we’ve ever had to abandon the greenhouse work for later and we’re sort of smarting about that. But the Rose Garden and Moongate bed are tidied just in time for a steady trickle of early-bird visitors come to catch spring in its infancy. And although we might have gotten to the climbing roses as early as this before, they certainly weren’t breaking yet. At this rate we have to wonder if the roses’ June peak will fall in May instead.

If we had ever had a decent freeze, Fred and Dan wouldn’t have been able to break ground and be so far along with the North Garden redesign. We have temporarily relocated plants that are showing signs of taking off, so take it from us, if you will be doing any plant shifting this spring, you might as well get a jump on it and start now – particularly if you have shrubs or trees to move. Beat feet.

The weather is still going to do its usual diabolical March swing thing though. Unbelievably, given that yesterday was in the 60s, there’s a wee chance of snow in the forecast for tonight. So even though part of me is ready to throw out the calendar I have to remember that it’s March and slow down a minute. We’ll still follow our usual last-frost in mid-May planting schedule because you just never know with spring.

Are you making any adjustments to your spring schedule?

Nature has her own ways of doing things and her own timing. There’s no predicting it. — It hadn’t occurred to us last August when we ordered bulbs that squirrels would be acorn deprived and tulip-hungry this year. We had no idea after so many years mouse-free in the greenhouse that they’d be back. And we had no way of knowing when setting the date for Daffodil Days last year that they might bloom extra-early this year. Nature keeps us on our toes and all we can do is go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

There’s no fighting the likelihood of an early spring (despite another dusting of snow) so we’re going with it and rescheduling our celebrations to (hopefully) more closely match Nature’s timing. We will hustle to be open for the season and Daffodil Days starting April 1.

As for this being the year of the rodent here at Blithewold, all we can do is roll with the punches and get smarter. We’ve ordered extra spring bloomers to fill in any tulip-shaped gaps. (The squirrels didn’t eat them all so we’ll be sure to spray or dust the survivors with deer repellent.) And we’re doing our darnedest to keep the mice out of the seeds by covering the seedling trays with weighted upside-down trays. Fingers crossed. And I’m sorry to say it but because we can’t grow the gardens we’re known for without these plants, we have also brought out the big guns: poison bait. No dogs allowed in the greenhouse until further notice. (And after that, by invitation only, as per usual.)

When change is good it’s easy to adapt to it. Assistant grounds manager, Dan Christina has joined Dick in managing the vegetable garden. He has drawn a beautiful plan, dug trenches for the asparagus that Dick has been asking for forever, started working on a brilliant array of staking methods and support structures, and will help keep us all to a schedule of extra-productive succession planting and harvests. We’re pretty excited.

Any changes, welcome or not, in your garden? Will you have to hustle to be ready for an early spring too?