What a year! Except for the two abnormally weeks (one in March, on in May), this has been an amazing spring.
Flowers are lasting and lasting with many of the flowering shrubs holding onto blossoms two to three times longer than would normally be expected and many have produced their finest ever display. The roses have just finished their first, major flush of bloom and were easily the best I’ve ever seen them! Most roses are not really ‘ever-blooming’ but do bloom most of the season, albeit ‘on and off’. In contrast, the daylilies will be starting into full flush (first one was 3 – 4 days ago) in a matter of days. There are enough varieties in the garden to ensure one or more of them will be showing off full-tilt for the next two months. The new Epimediums in one of the shade areas have taken hold and immediately began to show A LOT of new growth; having removed and transplanted almost five bushels full of Geranium macrophyllum I thought there would be a lot of empty ground, but the Epimediums took hold almost immediately and are really thriving! I am really looking forward to watch these amazing plants spread themselves around. The removal of the Geraniums did more than just create more space for other plants (and there are still plenty of the Geraniums in the area!), but the other plants that share the same general area have really expanded as well. This is one of the aspects of gardening that is so much fun for me – all of our best plans can be blatantly ignored by the plants, which do what they want to do, leaving it up to us to be creative within the framework THEY create. Tight control over carefully clipped plants in a formal design is not only nearly impossible to achieve, but is usually frustratingly doomed to failure for some who do not have lots and lots of well-trained labor on hand! If you have been to visit the garden so far this year (or if you haven’t), I urge you to come in the next several weeks to see the newest phase in the garden’s current change in focus, which happens in major ways at least 4-5 times during the active growing season.