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!

Strolling the Inn Grounds

A quick photo stroll around the inn grounds! These were taken just about a month ago and already there are so many more flowers all around. These are actually peonies from our assistant innkeepers garden. They are tree peonies that bloom earlier than our regular peonies and she always brings in her "excess" to brighten the main inn common rooms. Bree, our ridgeback, is trying to look noble and worried at the same time. She hates to walk on the wet grass, but she loves going on walks.

This is the herb garden with the marigolds just after planting. Now they have completely filled in the bed and you can't even see the dirt anymore. Here is Bree, the dog who hates to walk in wet grass, showing us that she will make an exception for wading into the fresh puddles of rain water for a nice cooling drink. The chives are going wild, which is great because I use them in my goat cheese and chives scrambled egg special. Yum. This year we had robin build a nest right above the bend in the rainspout. A much smarter location than their usual spot above a doorway!

Spring Landscape at the Inn

I love the Spring when the landscape burst forth with vibrant shades of green and the perennials let me know that once again they have survived the winter! Here's a little photo stroll around the grounds.






This year I'm trying all zinnias in the driveway garden (between the daffodils). I hope they do better than the marigolds last year.
My decorated duck for the community art project (QuackQuackGreenville) is now up on the porch for a better view of the garden.

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.

Around and About at the Inn

I always enjoy walks around the inn to discover what new flowers are blooming.

I finally got the planter boxes planted with flowers. Spring was so late in coming and then zipped by so fast and into summer that somehow the planter boxes were neglected in favor of rose and tree planting.

Here we have some petunias and some plant that I grabbed when the clerk at the nursey said "get one more 4 pack and all the 4 packs will be cheaper." I think it might be some sort of daisy. We'll see once it blooms.



The side carriage house garden is coming along nicely, but its full color is yet to come in the summer with all the coneflowers. The butterfly bush in the center is once again "playing dead." It may in fact be dead, but the last time it looked like this I cut it way back in preparation of pulling it out, but then it started to sprout new growth. So I've done that again, cutting it back to short stumps, and if there is no signs of life, I'll dig it out next spring and put in something else.



This is the New Dawn climbing rose along the flowering fence that we put in 2 years ago. It is just covered with pale pink blooms that have a lovely light fragrance.



The climatis are doing really well in their 2nd year, too.



This year I have all orange marigolds in the side lawn herb garden.

Flowers Abound

We are already deep into our workshop season with the painting and fiber/art quilt workshops, but we still take time to stop and enjoy the flowers that blooming in profusion all over the property.

We had a week of rain followed by a week of bright sunny weather that has really shifted the plants, vines, and trees in to high growing gear.








All that flower admiring is making me hungry! Here is a nice bowl of our house-made granola topped off with lots of fresh fruit that is always available for breakfast. Yum!