IT DIDN'T HAPPEN, BUT THE VERY IDEA of
A  MONSOON! 

THIS  IS  EAST  HAMPTON, after all

God knows, we needed some rain, but monsoons….this is what
they were saying anyway about what to  expect last weekend.
So, in the pouring rain – fearing that my gorgeous tulips will go the
way of all monsoon-ridden flowers – I ran out to retrieve
a bunch before the deluge.  If I must say so myself, on the Sunday evening of 22 April, my color combinations are to die for.

All musky and muted and purply – dusk-tinted shades of salmon
and brick and chestnutty-maroon.  Too rainy to gather too many,
but this is an idea…

DIG DEEP WEEDER DOES ITS JOB

Take that, you stinky old dandelion!

I THINK I WILL SERVE TEA

Everyone is baffled by the early spring.

I have to do something because any poor garden tourer that is
visiting my garden on May 12 will have absolutely nothing to see.

This is what they will have missed:

My darkest hellebore kissed by the beautiful white daffodil
Thalia with Muscari botryoides 'Superstar' in front.
(although I'm not sure this one lives up to its name,
might stick with classic M. armeniacum,
though I love the pale blue 'Valerie Finnis'
and the bushy M. comosum).

More of that adored Thalia peeping out from under the Sargent’s Weeping Hemlock – which proves 2 things:  it has great tenacity (this is the 4th or 5th year for this clump which started out on the edge of the treeline and is now completetly engulfed in its shade) AND  that the Weeping Hemlock has totally outgrown its spot.

Variegated Petasites at their freshest.

The unfolding of this circular-leafed Podophyllum (or mayapple)
Scored from
Calista Washburn’s great garden at the
Garden Club of East Hampton’s posh Memorial Day flower sale.

The unfurling of the especially fuzzy brown fiddleheads of
Polystichum polyblepharum  (or Tassel Fern)
nestled among the spotted leaves of an
Erythronium (dog’s tooth violet) that has
yet to bloom…but I have faith in it.

An Erythronium that finally did bloom!  It’s called ‘White Splendor’
and took 3 years to produce this fine little flower.

Japanese maple ‘Orange Dream’ showing off its irrepressible
color behind the twisted Larch just popping into puffs of new
growth – like a myriad of little paintbrushes.

Fiery new growth of Acer 'Goshiki Kotohine' against the blue needles of Cupressus glabra 'Blue Ice', a charming Arizona cypress.

The clash of the Burnt Sienna Fritillaria imperialis against the
astounding Magnolia.

So, the appreciating and appreciative that come to see my garden on
GARDEN CONSERVANCY OPEN DAY
May 12
86 Davids Lane
East Hampton, New York
10 - 2
will have missed all of these spring lovelies,
but there will be other delights.