Spring Planting and Parades

Last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, was yet another wonderful Spring day and I finally had the chance to get some new plants to put in around the inn.

I had been itching to add some colorful annuals, but held back just in case there should be a last minute frost before Memorial Day -- and there was! It was a good thing that I waited.

We have a great nursery near us in Freehold. It is Story's Nursery and it is open year around.

Really nice people and they have a terrific selection of old favorites and unusual exotics. They really know their plants. We have people who come to our inn who make a special trip down to Story's to pick up some plants before heading home.

In this first foray to the nursery I wanted to get some flowers for the various pots and planters around the inn. This pot is on the front porch of the main inn. I like geraniums with verigated leaves and paired this one with a green and pink coleus.

Here is another pot for the front porch. This one with a wonderful bright red dahlia. Love dahlias! I forget the name of the other plant, but it will have deep blue/purple flowers.

The next spot to fill in was the herb garden. I bought 2 of each - basil, thyme, sage, and oregano. Then filled in with several types of marigolds. The herb garden already has chives and mint that you just can't cut back too far!

This pot features a lovely coleus and a datura, also known as Angel Trumpet.

In this long planter outside the windows of the carriage house studio, I planted zinnias and snapdragons.

More zinnias filled the planters on the south side of the carriage house.

Our ancient lilac bush is bursting with fragrant blooms, as are all of the lilacs around our inn.

As I was saying, Story's has some interesting plants! I found these native Australian flowers called Joey's. They are suppose to do well in hot dry conditions, so I've planted them on the south side of the round garden by the pool. This garden has tall grasses in the center, so in the summer time when the grass is tall, one side is in the shade and the other the blazing sun. Anything I've planted on the sunny side has wilted in the heat. We'll see how the Joey's do!

This planter is near the back steps of the main inn. It has the varigated leaf geranium, a datura, and another of those purple/blue flower plants!

And last but not least is the rosemary in a pot by the back door - for good luck!

Now what about that parade you were talking about, you say. Yes, Greenville had it's yearly Memorial Day parade and it had a really nice turn out. It was a beautiful day.

The Green is Back in Greenville

Green, green, green. Lots of green around the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn in Greenville, in Greene County. Good thing I like the color green!

The maple trees are fully leafed out, the grass is practically growing before your eyes, and the weeds making their yearly attempt to take over the gardens!

Good thing we have a secret weapon - Vera, gardener extrodinaire!

She keeps the weeds at bay, while I do the major trimming and planting. With beautiful Spring days like we have been having, gardening is high on my list of things I want to do around the inn!

Spring Time Garden Tour

The recent rains have really given the gardens a boost of growing and greening. Here is quick little photo tour of some of the highlights.

This is the kitchen herb garden, all spruced up and ready for the new season. Last year it was over run with mint, so all of that was cleared out. After all how many mojitos can one consume in a summer. ;-)

We did leave the chives in the center, though. They've already come in handy for the Leek and Potato soup that I made for dinner on Wednesday.

We will probably be planting some Tarragon, Rosemary, Basil, and Thyme this year, as they seem to be the herbs that we use the most.

The White garden has a interloper! Who put the red tulip in there? Probably a squirrel.

Well, there is a little bit of blue in the White garden, too. A Jack Frost Brunnera. Maybe it was a patriot squirrel - wanted some red, white and blue in the garden.

This is our huge ancient lilac, which is next to the carriage house and cottage. It is magnificent covered in deep pink blooms, but also awesome covered in snow!

This is one of the pool side gardens. I'm still working on getting the right mix of perennials for this area. Because of the tall grasses in the center, one side is in full sun and the other is in the shade. Another issue to deal with is that the plants have to be very hardy - our dogs sometimes think the inner ring, between the grasses and the flowers is a great running track.

There are violets popping up all over, but I loved this little scene against the trunk of a maple tree near the main inn. Great moss on the tree trunk, too.