The guys wasted no time finding a replacement fountain vase among old Christmas decorations in the barn. Although it’s a perfect fit and we’re all impressed with their quick thinking and ingenuity, it’s not perfect and we’re still madly hoping to get Blithewold’s beautiful original back. It’s sad to think that even if the urn is recovered we might have to keep it under lock and key and find a permanent ersatz solution for our visitors to enjoy outdoors. In my bleaker moments I can imagine a time when all of our valuable objects are hidden away for “safe keeping” and facsimiles are put in their place. Will our experience be diminished or will the fakes become as precious to us as the originals?

(At least the living collections in the gardens will always be the real deal. The moment our tree peonies are replaced with silk stand-ins is the very moment I’ll turn in my hori-hori for a new career in accounting.)

Gail and I will waste no time this week looking for temporary solutions in the Display Garden. The newest of the beds is a veritable blank slate and we intend to spend the season getting to know it. It will eventually be a mixed garden, full of our favorite shrubs, perennials, tender perennials, annuals and what ever else strikes our fancy from year to year – will we ever become bored with ornamental vegetables? This year though we will fill it full of temporary solutions gleaned from our container bed, our stock of tender perennials, annuals and yes, Lilah, ornamental veggies! Stay tuned for how Gail and I futz with placement in a tabula rasa garden. (At this stage in our process Gail is writing lists and I am daydreaming in technicolor…)