Every gardener needs a faithful companion to keep them company. Especially one that doesn't talk too much. This is our cat, Spunky, resting up after a hard afternoon in the garden. He and his sister amuse themselves by lying in wait just at the foot of the bird feeder. The birds have figured out they can't really get up there, so its mostly all for show. Anyway, a nice nap after a hard afternoon rolling in the catmint sounds pretty good! 

I have lots of iris this year - division last year really re-vitalized all of my plants! Several of my iris have come from the world-famous Presby Iris Garden in Montclair, NJ (courtesy of my mother-in-law, Ruth). Their website is http://presbyiris.tripod.com/ , and if you ever get the chance you should visit, but make sure you go in May or early June. This iris I got from a nursery, and I have no idea of its name. But here's the thing: It is this incredible, wonderful grape color - and it smells just like Concord grapes! Is that too cool, or what!

The peonies were beautiful this year - until the rain knocked them down! I got these beauties from my friend Rodney a long time ago. Although all the books tell you that peonies don't like to be divided, Rod divides his every couple of years in August and then gives away bare-root sections with a couple of nice 'eyes'. He gave me three, including this nice white one, a pale pink multiple and a brilliant magenta with yellow centers - and they've all done beautifully! Peonies are heavy feeders and like a LOT of good organic fertilizer. Also, they are very sensitive to how deep they are planted. If you have peonies that are not blooming well, re-plant them in August so that the 'eyes' are no more than an inch under the soil. Less is ok, but deeper than an inch and they just won't bloom like these babies!

Brynn Maree Valentine 

My grand-daughter, Brynn Maree Valentine

In May my grand-daughter, Brynn Maree Valentine was born. She was not overly eager to enter the world, finding her situation with Claire quite comfortable, thank you very much! But after several days of goofing around, she joined us all, at 9 lb, 9 oz, with a full head of fine dark hair! Could there be a more beautiful baby? For more, see her daddy's website at www.davidvalentine.com .

In May, these doublefile viburnums make a pretty backdrop behind the gazebo. 

Wander down this garden path - what's around the bend? 

I love tulips! These are Apricot Beauty, Menton, Greenland - plus ferns and hostas, and also mixed with white Thalia narcissus.  

Two years ago, I decided that I just didn't have enough to do, so I rousted the boys to help me start a woodland garden. We've got about 2 and a half acres, most of it fairly heavily wooded. So first I got some serious hired help with chainsaws to take out all the small trees and understory junk, and then remove limbs from the big trees to a height of about 20 feet. This is called 'limbing up' and it creates a nice, open feeling in your woodland, emphasizes nice large trunks and draws the eye upward to the majestic canopy. Then the hard work of creating beds. That's the most difficult, because you can't dig it very deep (too many tree roots from the established trees) and if you add soil on top of the tree roots, its not good for the trees. Its amazing how sensitive trees are to just the right location for their roots. I've found you can dig a few inches, then add another 6 inches of soil on top, and create decent beds that will accomodate shallow-rooted perennials like hostas, dicentras, lily of the valley, astilbes. Shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons are great, and so is mountain laurel and andromeda. Anyway, I'm working on it and its looking pretty good this year, but it's still going to take awhile.

The most amazing woodland garden I've ever seen is the garden created by Ruth and Jim Levitan on their small property in Stamford, CT. This garden is featured in many books, but there aren't very good links to it on the web - but here's one: http://web.mit.edu/giving/spectrum/spring98/levitan.html. Another great garden that has a lot of good woodland and incredibly creative ways of combining plants in non-traditional ways is The Garden of Ideas, in my own hometown of Ridgefield, CT. Check out some info on this one at: http://www.gardenofideas.com/hist.htm.

Garden in the spring

Those who know me know I am an avid gardener. I don't have a boat, I don't have a second home, I don't play golf. Instead, I garden. So welcome to my garden....

I call my garden an 'American cottage garden'. The cottage garden is an English tradition - a nation of gardeners if there ever was one! But not the formal, neatly trimmed and highly organized garden of the upper class - no, a cottage garden is one that a poor dirt farmer put in in front of his little stone cottage with the thatched roof. For a great read on cottage gardening, try "The Cottage Garden" by Christopher Lloyd and Richard Bird. They say it better than I can: "The essence of a cottage garden...is a bountiful yet regulated informality. It has evolved through common sense, combines need with enjoyment and is entirely unpretentious."

If my garden has a structure, it is one that encourages the visitor to wander, and then to stop and enjoy. So it has mulched paths that go off in all directions - you can pick - and then you enter a space that is like a 'room' in the garden, and usually there is a chair or bench or good place to sit for a minute. It's a bit more rambling than your typical English cottage garden - I am, after all, an American! - and you can go from sun to shade and from the vegetable garden into the perennials into the woodland garden (which is new and still under construction.)

How can you talk about a garden without pictures? Here are some spots you might like...