We Have Spring Fever!
Roses, Roses, Roses.
Imagine my excitement to witness a sea of roses and boxwood being off loaded from a semi truck next to the barn! What an amazing site! Then the next thought that hit me was sobering. Gulp. I need to get all of these planted and really fast before the weather prevents it. After planting roses for days, the mother lode still looked, well, discouragingly about the same as the day that huge truck delivered them all. So, we called in reinforcements, aka our dear friends, Jim and Kathy.
We approached this daunting project with military precision: Coffee and doughnut consumption. Hey, priorities, right? Then, one person dug the holes, the next followed behind and planted, and the last would water them in. All in all, we planted 70 Double Knock Out roses. They're everywhere! Well, almost. There are roses planted in the tiered gardens next to the barn, in long beds along the path to the wedding hill, and in two gardens on the hill itself, as well as the Carriage House.
In my mind, I am mentally envisioning the calendar pages flashing by so that it's now June. It's 75 degrees, the sun is shining, and everywhere I turn I see roses in bloom. Now that's a heart warming winter's daydream.
Specialty Gardens
While roses are beautiful, no self respecting country place should be without a charming country flower garden. So, a large “carefree” bed was heavily planted with more carefree flowers – typical of the varieties seen in a rural setting. Deep yellows in the form of False Sunflower and Cup flowers line the back of the bed. In the middle, the entire bed is planted in purple Liatris. On the sides are groupings of Russian Sage. At the front; white Japanese Chrysanthemum which will offer amazing blooms in late summer/fall.
Similarly, a favorite country perennial are phlox. Thank you Karen Zimmerman (Verona) who sells a beautiful array of phlox at her Verona nursery. After Karen helped me load up my car with all the flowers I bought, I drove to the farm in my 'flower-mobile',. And the heady sweet aroma that filled my car was incredible! I was sad to unload them after that glorious drive. The phlox bed is directly east of the barn. A perfect spot to enjoy them is from the elevated barn deck.
Next, I tried my gardening hand planting something new for me. I'm hoping I've created a “Blooming Wall” bed featuring ‘Rose of Sharon’. At its mature height- each plant will be 6 feet wide x 12 feet tall and boast blooms similar to a small hibiscus. If all these plants survive the winter, it will eventually become a 40 foot long blooming wall. Go Sharon Go! Please make it thru the winter!
We have Spring Fever!
It's true. Winter hasn't really started and we've already got Spring fever! After all the power planting in late Fall, we can’t wait to see the gardens in early spring. One early bird bloomer we planted are tulips. Many tulips! Tulips next to the Carriage House, tulips filling the tiered stone terraced wall gardens, and tulips in the country perennial gardens After a long winter (and aren't they all 'long'), the grounds will come alive in bright colors – hot pink, lemon yellow, purple, and a multi colored mix. We’ll be sure to post photos.
