Lilacs and Poppies

Our Lilac Tea was quite successful and well attended. It acted as if it might rain but the rains held off, although there were some bugs. The lilacs were at their peak - the next week they weren't quite as good and the following Sunday it poured rain. The masses of orange poppies didn't come till the next week- nor were the orange Mandarin Light deciduous azaleas out. The iris were maybe at their peak yesterday but the hail last night might have ruined them somewhat. Now the roses and peonies are coming. By the way the peonies in bloom during the tea were Athena and Claire de Lune. In the last 2 weeks, I've been attempting to get the labeling corrected on my lilacs- I've done pretty well.

The next day after the Lilac Tea, Kady and I went for a walk up Urquhart road looking at the Polygala and pink ladyslippers and the blossoms of Acer spicatum and Acer pensylvanicum.

Lilac Tea

My annual lilac tea is happening this coming Sunday at four in the afternoon.

It looks like they could be out in time although the season is somewhat behind where it usually is. I'm busy getting ready for it: weeding, mowing not to mention baking. Both Kady and Libby are going to be here this year. My lilacs were excellent last year and some how there was alot of dead this spring which we have tried to prune out--I figured this would be a good year for a more drastic pruning anyway. On another note, I found and photographed some painted Trillium growing here in West Newbury

Daffodil Walk Reviewed

My Narcissus are just coming into it now. Some are not out yet but almost none are gone by. Now or even next weekend would be perfect for the Daffodil party we had just over a week ago on May 1st. One could say we had the worst daffodil year we've ever had. Luckily I have a lot of them so that losing a few thousand isn't as noticeable. First after coming on early, we had 2 consecutive nights of 4 degrees: that killed a lot of flower buds and ruined some foliage, then we had the snow storm which flattened them. The final two blows were several weeks of unseasonably cold weather which set them back and of coarse, it rained for our walk. Other than that it was perfect.

Martha's Vineyard and the Polly Hill Arboretum

This coming Sunday, May 1st at 4:00 we're having our annual "Daffodil Walk"--I haven't started preparing any food for what has become a rather elaborate tea. I'm going to have to start baking tonight. That my blood sugar level is too high and may be borderline for pre-diabetes takes some of the fun out of gooseberry/black currant squares and shortbread. However, now we are on Martha's Vineyard in the rain. It's a wonderful place and I want to return when I have more time. We got our daughter, Kady, to her job as a curatorial intern at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard. Yesterday was her first day. It;s the best arboretum or public garden I've ever been to. Not only were many very rare things, a lot of which I had never seen or even heard of, blooming, but also there were very few people. The best thing about this arboretum is that all the people who work there know more than I do and seem very willing to talk to the visitors. I'll try to post some of the photos I took. I think Kady will be able to learn a huge amount there. Other people whom we have met have also been very friendly and helpful: a stranger who got me closer to a seal than I have ever been, a young man who checked out my radiator hoses and gave me some antifreeze to fill the radiator when the high temperature light came on at 9:30 at night came on (I know very little about such things).

Daffodil Walk

Our annual daffodil "walk" is going to be Sunday, May 1st at 4:00 in the afternoon. First things were coming along so fast that we thought of an earlier date , but then, we had much cooler weather. We even had two consecutive nights where the temperature got down to 4 degrees F which was enough to zap some Narcissus foliage and even some flower buds, That's the second time in thirty years that I have seen any damage to daffodils from cold.

Hopefully it will make no difference to the overall display.

Transplanting Snowdrops

Galanthus nivalis is one of my favorite perennials- perhaps it's so easy to end up with lots and lots of them and they bloom so early. I simply go out when they are in bloom, dig up clumps and stick little bunches of bulbs here and there- they are even OK in a lawn- especially when you can avoid mowing real early in the spring: in other words, where the grass is a little thin- they seem to like rich moist areas.

Longwood Gardens

On our annual vacation to the Philadelphia, we went to Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, PA. Hamamelis, Galanthus snow Crocus, Helleborus were in bloom outside. Here are some photos: