First of Summer Tour

It has been such a busy year so far, what with one thing or another, that blogging has take a back seat to other things. But here is a quick tour of what is currently happening in the garden. This is the carriage house side garden. The new David Austin roses planted last year along the flowering fence are producing some wonderful rich pick flowers. Looking over the fence to the enclosed garden area. A flowering fence climatis. I've added quite a few foxgloves around the property. These are Dalmatian foxgloves that I'm trying out in the cottage sunny side garden. Love those spots!


Because we had to cut down a big spruce tree that was just about dead next to the driveway, we now have a new bright sunny spot to fill in. I'm trying out some Echinacea, Bee Balm, and Lavender. The front garden is filling in with lots of daisies, foxglove, roses, iris, and delphiniums.
After that little tour around the gardens, a nice cold beer might be nice. We have an extensive wine and beer menu and I just added a couple of new options. We already have a couple other of the Flying Dog beers (from Maryland) and now have Counter Culture and Bloodline Blood Orange Ale. (I have to admit that I got the Bloodline because of the label - that crazy looking Dalmatian - but the sales guy at the distributor said it was one of his favorites!
Also new is the Chimay Rouge a premiere Belgium ale. The Rogue Chocolate Stout was already on our list, and is quite popular. Finally, there is the Wexford Irish Style Creme Ale - light and creamy!

Local Bounty

August is a wonderful time to live in an agricultural community! A local farmer stopped by yesterday with a bonanza of strawberries and cucumbers! I think I ate a half basket of strawberries before I even had time to put them away. Wow, are they good when they are this fresh. These were from the Boehm Family Farm in Climax, NY on Route 26 just 15 minutes from us. They grow Apples, Peaches, Nectarines, Pears, an assortment of Vegetables. Plus have Apple Cider, Apple Cider Donuts, Handmade gifts, and more. This was their first year growing strawberries and they had such a bumper crop they were driving around to the local restaurants to see if anyone wanted to buy some. We were more than happy to oblige.



And while we are thinking of food . . . In this photo I'm in the middle of preparing one of our breakfast specials, Asparagus and Mushroom strata. This is the onions sautéing, while the torn brioche and mushrooms wait their turn to be layered into the final dish for baking.



Still thinking of food, with a nod to gardening . . . I finally decided that it was unlikely that I'd ever get the big Victorian Greenhouse that I dream of, so if I wanted to get a Meyer's Lemon tree, I might as well just go for it now!

This is a dwarf Meyer's Lemon from Four Winds Nursery in Fremont, California. Four Winds is legendary for their dwarf citrus trees and because I spent my childhood in Fremont, where I walked past Four Winds on my way to school every day, I, of course, had to purchase my tree from them!



I'll be keeping it in a container so that I can bring it inside during the winter, but these trees do very well in containers.

I'm still working on our front garden, trying out various perennials to see what will do well. This is one of the latest - Pink Baby's Breath. It is putting out beautiful sprays of pale pink flowers, perfect for flower arrangements.



This is one side of the front garden. You can see that it still has lots of room for improvement and more flowers. Budget only allows a limited purchase of new plants each year, but I have loads of patience and half the fun of gardening is puttering around it it to see what develops!



One of our recent guests, Barbara Fiore, caught a rare shot of us together with our pups, Hudson and Bree, as we were heading out on a walk! It's rare because usually Mark or I are the ones taking the pictures, which always leaves one of us out of the shot.

Fluffy Snow

I didn't have the chance this year to capture the first snow of the year and by the time I did, it had all but melted away. So I was very happy with this second snowfall. We got about 5 to 6 inches total.

These first couple of shots were taken from the second floor porch of the Main Inn in the early morning.

Later in the afternoon we took the dogs out to play in the snow. Hudson, the Dalmatian, is a waterdog through and through. He loves water in any form. Bree only like snow when it is nice and fluffy. Then she just wants to run around in it.

Our creek is always so beautiful in the snow.

Hudson has his eye on the back fields of our property. This picture was taken just before he and Bree took off in a mad dash through the snow.

Spring, Summer, then Back to Spring

The weather is confused, the plants are confused, and the squirrels are confused. (Of course, who can really tell with squirrels!) We've gone from 40 degrees to 90 degrees and then back to 35 degrees.

But you know what, it doesn't matter at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn and all the wonderful places to visit in our region. The forsythia is still a brilliant yellow.

The perennial flowers are coming up.

And the Dalmatians are still lovable!

This is a salt and pepper set that I bought at the Fly Creek Cider Mill in Cooperstown on our day trip last week. I'm always on the look out for new additions for my Dalmatian collection that we have on display in the built-in cabinets in our dining room.

Yes, that is a token Ridgeback figure in with the Dalmatians! I've had Dalmatians since I was 15 years old and have been collecting the figures for quite a while, too. Our current Dalmatian, Hudson, is number 6. We also have Rhodesian Ridgeback, Bree, who is Hudson's best buddy.

They are both wonderful inn dogs and are very friendly, having grown up from puppies at the inn. If you stay at the inn, you may get a chance to greet them when we take them out for walks on their leashes.

Hot Chocolate Weather At Last

Yesterday we got about 6 inches of beautiful fluffy white snow. This is the fun stuff. It is so light and fly-away that you just want to start running and bounding around in it like a child! Next thing you know you're making a snow man and thinking of a mug of hot chocolate for when you come in from playing in the snow.

This winter has been sadly lacking in this frozen delight and it is likely not going to last for long (Saturday the temps are suppose to be in the 50s), so I'm going to enjoy it for all it's worth while it is here.

Here is a tour of our wonderland, as we took our dogs out for a romp in the snow around the inn.

This is our parking lot (empty of all the people missing this beautiful landscape).

Looking towards the pool and pool house.

Hudson, our water-loving Dalmatian, who has already been dipping his whole head into the snow.

Walking out on our back lawns, near the Cottage Rooms.

The Dawn Redwood tree (planted by the Stevens, who are the family who turned the property into an inn in the 1950s).

A Spruce tree that we bought as a live Christmas tree in 2005. We bought another one this year and in the Spring it will be planted near this one.

Back near the pool.

Spring Flowers and Dalmatian Puppies

The signs of Spring are popping up all around the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. The daffodils will be blooming by the end of the day . . .

and it won't be long until the lupines are sending up stems of flowers.

I'm looking forward more garden transformations. I have in mind more perennials and flowering vines.

On another note, I was checking out the statistics of this blog and discovered a curious and funny thing --- the most popular post of all time was the one in which I mentioned a new Dalmatian figurine that I just added to our collection (displayed in the built-in cabinet in the dining room)! I thought "wow, I should post about Dalmatians more often." ;-)

So here is an obligitory Dalmatian picture! This is our Dalmatian, Hudson, when he was a cute little puppy. He is still cute, but not so little.

However, the second most popular post was about the Spring gardens, which is good because the flowers are much easier to photograph as they tend to hold still!