April showers (and May showers and June showers) bring lots of flowers!  Yes, I know it’s been a chilly spring full of rainy days and nights, but all the rain is a blessing to our gardens.  Last summer’s long dry spell put many plants to the test.  This is their chance to recuperate.  While the plants absorb the many inches of rain, we gardeners are busy taking advantage of this perfect planting weather.  It’s cool and comfortable for digging holes and doesn’t stress out the plants we are moving.  It has been the perfect conditions for our garden renovation in the Idea Gardens.  A few years ago we moved the exuberant Pollinator Bed to its proper place in the meadow.  We then used that garden space for many of our favorite plants of all shapes and sizes.  It was still a bit wild.  We made more changes this year.  Our hope is that this will feel like a peaceful backyard garden.  We are planning to add some chairs in the garden to make it even more welcoming.

As you can see, we cleared out much of the existing plant material.  It has been replaced with a large area of ground cover plants, a few of our favorite perennials (Geum chiloense flore plena ‘Blazing Sunset’ and Alchemilla sericata ‘Gold Strike’), a Black Locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia), and a few non-hardy perennials (Salvia spp., Perilla ‘Magellanica’, Brugmansia).  The ground covers we are trialing include creeping thyme (Thymus praecox ‘Pink Chintz), corsican mint (Mentha requienii) , black brass buttons (Leptinella squalida ‘Platt’s Black’), compact chamomile (Chamomile nobile ‘Treneague’), compact oregano (Oregano vulgare ‘Short & Sassy’), Sea-heath (Frankenia laevis) and carpet pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).  It has been great to have our new intern Gidiony with us this year.  He has been busy documenting our new bed, digging many holes, and learning what it takes to overhaul a garden.  Sean, our intern from last year, has returned to help us out part time.  We’ve been putting these guys to the test these past few weeks, but they have been up to the challenge.

As far as the rest of the gardens, I’ll let them speak for themselves.

Viola ‘Caramel Rose Shades’ in the Rose Garden.

Allium ‘Ambassador’ in the Rose Garden.

Clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’ blooming on the Moongate.

Peony ‘Singing in the Rain’ in the Rose Garden.

North Garden

Viola ‘Cool Wave Morpho’ in the North Garden.

Allium and Peonies in the Cutting Garden.

There is much to see (and smell!) here at Blithewold.  I hope you have the opportunity to experience these beauties in person soon.  And definitely check out our new bed in the Idea Garden.  We designed it with you in mind!