Self seeded Daisies with Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' in the Long Border

In some ways this is one of my favorite points in the garden year. We are at the end of our spring bulb display and at the beginning of the tremendous, over-the-top summer garden season. This is the time that I imagine the garden collectively drawing in a deep breath that will be let out in a fragrant, multi-colored explosion of flowers and foliage. Despite early heat that brought the bulbs out fast and furious, a recent spate of cool and rainy days have not so much slowed the forward progress of the emerging perennials, as kept the earlier than usual blooms hanging on much longer than expected. So we are ahead but, at the same time, about where I would expect for a “normal” year. Some of the tulip blooms have been hanging on for over two weeks. In the Bus Stop Garden the Flaming Parrot Tulips garnered much attention on the April 30^th garden event- they are still wonderful!

Tulip Flaming Parrot in the Bus Stop Garden

Nearby in the Shop Garden Narcissi triandrus ‘Petrel’ and the excellent Tulip Bleu Aimable are holding forth.

Narcissi triandrus 'Petrel' and Darwin Tulip 'Bleu Aimable' In the Shop Garden

Corinne and I dig all the tulips up each year so that we can plant fresh bulbs in the fall. This accomplishes a number of things. Most tulips perform best the first year with smaller blooms and uglier (messier) foliage in subsequent years. Because the bulbs are a BIG part of our garden, we want to ensure the best possible show; we do not leave it up to chance. I am proud how abundant the gardens are each spring; I don’t want to risk a less than spectacular show due to bulb senescence or vole predation.  It would be very complicated to keep track of the bulb groups to try to match the colors. Instead, with the exception of the species tulips, we dig the tulips as soon as they are done blooming and offer them to the employees. This gives me the opportunity to change the color mix every year. This year I decided the put the peony tulips and parrot tulips in the Farmhouse Border and the Courtly Check Courtyard. I think of these areas as town or city gardens as opposed to the more country style of the Long Border. Salmon Parrot tulip was very popular and garnered many questions. Two week into bloom the colors remind me of the paint strokes of the white on the Courtly Check pattern.

Tulip Salmon Parrot in the Farmhouse Garden

The Long Border has given way to the final blooms of Tulip Bleu Aimable, Best Purple, Cum Laude and Elegant Lady. The purples are blending in with the wonderful Allium ‘Purple Sensation’. They also act as a perfect foil for the Bird Song Spigot and Mrs Powers Gate that adorn the Long Border.

I love this time because the gardens show so much promise. We have started staking the plants that past experience tells us are bound to flop. I prefer to use bamboo and twine. More fastidious gardeners than I frequently rant  against the green dyed bamboo stakes- I find the dye fades after one season so if I have trouble finding un-dyed poles in the size I need, I am unafraid of the green ones! This time of year I spend days staking; I find a kind of Zen-like pleasure in creating the spider web structures.

Stake supports for Monarda didyma 'Raspberry Wine' in the Long Border

Stakes almost hidden by Salvia nemorosa 'Viola Klose'

We have had a lovely number of cool, rainy days that make the gardens sparkle with lushness. I walked around with my camera Friday morning, after a good rainThursdaynight, and tried to capture some of the wonderful spring vignettes taking place in our gardens. The pictures feature both spring ephemerals like Dicentra spectabilis(Bleeding Heart- we have both pink and white cultivars) and season long workhorses like Nepeta, Hosta, Tiarella, Achemilla, and Hakonechloa.

Nepeta faassenii 'Six Hills Giant' provides very enduring blooms

Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' with Hosta' Northern Exposure' and Helleborus 'Ivory Prince' in the White Garden

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' in the White Garden

Allium 'Purple Sensation' with the more common pink Dicentra spectabilis in the Farmhouse Garden

Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' a personal favorite in the Farmhouse Garden

Finally, one of my all time favorites- Achemilla mollis- Lady’s Mantle; when my children were little, I would show them the quicksilver droplets of water held in the folds of the leaves and explain that Faeries wash their faces in the magic silver water. You know they do.

Achemilla mollis in the Farmhouse Garden

More Lady's Mantle with peony Tulip 'Angelique' in the Farmhouse Garden