Gardening and Gardens

The tulips are in full bloom all over my town. I think the best looking tulips are ones planted in clusters rather than a single line of them. In landscape design, you often read about the rule of sticking to one color or color family when planting in groups. But I think this unofficial rule can be broken when it comes to tulips. Look at this grouping I found along a local parking lot the other day.  The mass of colors from tulips of the same form are simply show stopping.  I wish I had this much space to plant this many all together!

April showers bring May flowers... Everything here is just on the cusp of blooming and today's rain showers will no doubt help them along. Spring has definitely sprung and it's wonderful to see something new in bud every day. Here's what's blooming in my Long Island, NY garden this month: I planted this Helleborus "Cotton Candy" (Lenten Rose) last year, late in the season, along with the Chinodoxa bulbs. I am so happy to see them both blooming! The daffodils have started to bloom. I love the small heads of these type with the orange trumpets. And no matter how much clean up I do, I still find oak leaves everywhere! These white tulips are a few days away from bloom. Behind them, the Endless Summer Hydrangeas are starting to show signs of life.  New this year are these cheery Primrose. A blast of color in the cool, early spring days. More Chinodoxa, complete with rain drops! (Read more about these here ) I love spring - seeing all the ne...

The Mohonk Mountain House is located in the Catskills region of New York. In 1869, Albert Smiley purchased 280 acres of land and a ten-room inn at the heart of a 26,000-acre natural area in the Shawangunk Mountains. Smiley envisioned a peaceful retreat where people could enjoy the beauty of nature in a spectacular setting. What started as a ten room inn and tavern is now a historic New York hotel that can accommodate up to 500 guests.   The gardens are very well known and over the years, have attracted amateur and professional gardeners who come to attend horticultural lectures, demonstrations and workshops. To quote from The Story of Mohonk, "Gardening with Mr. Smiley was dangerously near a passion." Over the years, succeeding generations of the Smiley family have tried to live up to his gardening standards. The gardens reflect the influence of the French and Italian, but mostly English styles of landscaping of the mid-19th century. On the first few days I was there, ...

100,000 bulbs, over 500 varieties in bloom. With beautifully landscaped grounds and so many things blooming, this garden reminded me of Keukenhof in Lisse, Holland. But it was actually the private home of my friend Deb Van Bourgondien on Long Island. Debbie is the executive vice president of Van Bourgondien and Sons, which sells bulbs via its Van Bourgondien catalog and website dutchbulbs.com . Every fall she plants more and more bulbs on her property - a task I'm sure her neighbors thank her for every spring. Pulling into the driveway I was met with a sea of yellow daffodils, beds of tulips and two enormous cedar trees. The side bed was anchored by two gorgeous Saucer Magnolia trees ( Magnolia x Soulangiana ) in full bloom. Because of all the different varieties, the bloom times were different. Each bed had some tulips or daffodils that were blooming, some that were still in bud and others that had just finished. Everywhere I walked, some...

I looked out the window this morning and actually saw...the lawn! Yes, after about 2 months of snow cover, I can now see patches of grass. Mind you, it's still matted down and brown, but it's there! With temperatures flirting with 50 degrees, I was on a hunt to spot some signs of spring. Lo and behold, I found some. Yeah!  Two little daffodil sprouts More daffodils and tulips May 15 is considered the last-frost date here. So we still have a while to go, but at least the early spring bulbs are starting to emerge. It made me so happy to see these and now I simply can't wait for ALL the snow to disappear!