For weeks, Gail and I have been staring at our newest bed in the Display Garden like nervous painters in front of a blank canvas. There’s something about a “tabula rasa” that can be just plain daunting. But like a painter after making the first bold stroke, we’re full of sudden inspiration. After spending the weekend in my own new (to me) garden, cutting in a new bed, I can also say that starting fresh is a different kind of satisfying than refreshing the old. There’s a sense of “ha! I own this garden!” Of course with that pride comes ownership of all the mistakes and oopses and did I really think that should go just exactly there?! – But perfection and gardens don’t go together and what fun would it be if they did? (answer – “no fun!”)

Today Gail and I started the process of placing plants in the new bed – some perennials and grasses that we removed last week from the prairie bed; some cuttings and seedlings we grew in the greenhouse; some plants we purchased – to be planted by the Deadheads tomorrow. We’re both inclined to pack plants in for a beefier show immediately but we’re practicing restraint (so far) in order to give everything room to grow (more or less) un-smashed. We also plan to plant out the very tender annuals when the temperature is consistently warmer and really should leave space for those… !

Meanwhile, elsewhere … remember that little wildflower I didn’t know the name of? I found it! I spotted this “wild oat lily” in the Rock Garden. Thanks to Marion Murray, Blithewold’s pre-me Interpretive Horticulturist who left last fall to become very important in Utah, for making exquisite choices in the Rock Garden and for labeling them! (Marion, we all miss you!)

And until the daffodils have gone by, I’ll keep looking up their skirts – this one (Narcissus ‘Pheasant’s Eye’) is in the Water Garden tucked up with the uncoiling Cinnamon ferns.