Peak Rose Garden Week! Herb Garden! Tadpoles!

An individual rose is beautiful in itself but an abundance of roses is glorious! A rose garden in full bloom can transport one’s spirit to a secret garden enhanced by many colors and fragrances. Blithewold’s Rose Garden, like the English cottage gardens on which it was modeled, has many of the old-fashioned flowers that complement roses, such as feverfew (Tanacetum niveum), foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea), and delphiniums.  We’ve also added some clematis, honeysuckles, and lilies to keep the flow of flowers complete.

Pretty and practical, our little Herb and Edible Flower Garden is also at a picture-perfect time this week.  Colorful nasturtiums, scented geraniums, calendulas and violas are all corralled by a wattle edge that the garden volunteers worked on in the winter. The Salanova lettuce started by seed this winter in the greenhouse is now as pretty as a flower and delicious to eat.

Last year, with the wet spring, a bumper crop of toadlets (tiny young toads) emerged from ponds and wet areas on the property. Those toadlets are bigger this year and all over our gardens, popping out from the soil and plants. Well, they all started out as tadpoles which, once again this year, have just hatched and are swimming in the pond.

Also, I have spotted the oriole’s nest on the grounds. I won’t give away where the nest is but if you take a quiet walk you can hear the babies and get a glimpse of the busy parents. The Cutting Garden peonies are still beautiful too. With so much to see, don’t miss a visit to the gardens this week!

Click Here to see a video of this year’s school of tadpoles.