Looking into the archway, a picture taken by Fred Bertram

Plans or resolutions, I have great intentions for 2012. Last year went by at such a breakneck pace; it felt like we were at a dead run much of the time. In 2011 we tried out so many new things that it seamed like we were constantly climbing the learning curve. I am really looking forward to refining and expanding what we started last year.

Simon as a gosling

Our most noted and, dare I say, famous change was the adoption of Simon. I gave very little thought to the long term ramifications of scooping Simon out of the garden (she was on the wrong side of the fence) and taking her into my office saying, “It can just live with us in the Estate Barn”. She has gone on to become the Estate mascot. The darling of staff and visitors, she follows the crew everywhere, has her own pool, is a must see for all dignitaries, and had so many pictures taken of her that we gave her a facebook page. She now has more friends than I do! I have heard rumors of an ornament in the plans.

Simon got a pool and friends for Christmas

In addition to Simon, we had several additions to the farm animal menagerie. Two of our cows, Molly (her daughter MacKenzie was in the Matthew VanFleet book, Moo, along with our rooster, Davide) and Nuala, had calves this spring. Our challenge this year will be befriending Caolinn and Robert the Bruce. They have been leading the wild life protected by their mothers, happy as part of the fold; our task this winter will be to halter train them and make them public friendly. We had our first lambing; novel for me since, as a girl who grew up around cows, I got to “assist” in my first lambing. We will not have more calves this year but  look forward to lambs from Libby and Annick. We are using a different ram this year so I am excited about having lambs in different colors.

Libby is wearing the bow- a plethora of browns

The production gardens will get a fence and three Flower Basket Garden Gates as I try my hand at espalier. I have long admired the cordoned and espaliered fruit trees at Mount Vernon; the stylized designs of our Espalier Collection, especially the Fireplace Screen, have me itching to expand my skills.

We will utilize the sweeps and herb squares to grow more flowers for cutting. In our continuing plan to feature fresh flowers in the shop and farmhouse, we are expanding to Fresh on Fridays. This will be an opportunity for visitors to pick up gorgeous bunches of flowers from our gardens for them to arrange at home.  I have begun perusing the plant catalogs for cutting flowers and plants not already in our gardens. High on my list are sunflowers and dahlias.

I will be planting more dahlias like this Nuit d'Ete for the cutting garden

I have plans to improve frequency and utility of the blog. This winter I will be creating a “What is Blooming Now” section of the blog that will highlight the primary blooms and features in the gardens each week. I will be able to expand on each plant, giving its garden location, cultivar name, and other horticultural details along with a picture of the plant in our gardens. This will be a long term, ongoing addition to the blog that will focus more on each plant. I am resolved to post more often; I know I enjoy blogs that update frequently.

Well, I had intended this post to be a summary and comprehensive plan for the coming year but I got carried away and have only scratched the surface. So, more to come…

And another shot of Simon, standing on the frozen pond