TRAVELOGUE It was a wonderful trip on a little ship.

Three happy travelers boarded the Seabourn Spirit in Venice.
All divine, but just how much Caviar can you eat night and day?

The answer: quite a lot.

Come with us and see.

Since Venice famously once ruled this part of the world, there is
a sense of its extravagance throughout these countries that
were all once part of its principality.
And that emblematic and exotic winged Venetian lion is everywhere..

here on the old city walls of KOTUR -
the first port of call. Having hardly ever heard of
Montenegro (it has only been inexistence since 2004), who
expected to see the breathtaking sight of the southernmost
fjord in the world – and all that implies: cliffs of granite covered
in the shapeliest and greenest trees

on a slightly misty blue sky morning  - just unbelievably beautiful.

The little ship – more like a big yacht – had the advantage
of being able to pull right into the midst of the old harbor – as
if you were stepping off at Main Street and Newtown Lane –
only not so much traffic.

Having never given much thought to this Montenegran city of
fortresses and monasteries on their own little islands,

It was heaven to spend a day in a place that has not been
touched by tourism,

 and so far, the only sign of change is that we hear there is now
an Aman resort on one of the little monastic islands – but that
sounds like change for the very best to me.

 and so far, the only sign of change is that we hear there is now
an Aman resort on one of the little monastic islands – but that
sounds like change for the very best to me.

 

Share My Summer

HEllO  My Friends
Garden and Otherwise

The garden is looking a little on the dreary side and I am only one step ahead of being totally overwhelmed by weeds; but the last few weeks have been high summer as far as fabulous fetes and Hamptons Benefits go…We were happy to be at the best.

Watermill Benefit  The Big Bang  2012

The rain poured but the art and the crowd sizzled.

And the exquisite LongHouse Benefit the week before
made the most of the art-studded
uniquely gardened 16 acres.

Though at this point the garden is anything but capricious;  when we left on our southern European jaunt at the end of June, there was still some romance :

The last and best Iris ensata, the Japanese one.

The first and certainly one of the best
lilies – small, graceful, inobtrusive -
L. martagon 'C. Shride'

(not like the horrible huge orientals that are blooming now.
Ugh…I can’t believe I planted so many, but don’t quite have the
heart to yank them...yet).

A Summer Blooming Muscari

 Colors are great, it is tall and summer blooming!
Ordered from Odyssey Bulbs.
And this late-blooming corydalis is so blue it is called ‘China Blue’.

The white variegations are at their whitest.  The big leaves are Fatsia (which overwintered in the ground!) and look to the right of the
shell – those 3 little exquisite really white leaves are
Farfugium japonica ‘Kaimon Drake’ from Plant Delights.
But here’s the story – they are only white in spring when
leaves are new, at end July they are just as green
and heavy as everything else…

An anemone blooming next to my favorite Colocasia 'Mojito'
- a surprise pairing.

And a few to–die-for Arisaema…

Look at those lovely tongues…

But in hot hot hot July upon return, there was not much
fascination in the garden at all – so instead – I'll take you
on our  trip down the Dalmation Coast
and across the Adriatic to the heel of
Italy – which was gloriously dreamy.

GROUNDCOVER

When I first began to garden I could never figure out what was meant 

by groundcover because no matter how much I planted  it never 

covered enough ground.
Now I am getting the hang of it… and feel so blessed with combinations and choices…that it could be the perfect subject for another book…

Oxalis + variegated ivy.

Another Oxalis , 'Iron Cross' , and maybe my favorite,
taking over the receding Anemone foliage 

(ah, the joys of layered planting – and so easy
to do with these little bulbs).

Hellebore, Autumn Fern (stupendous colors) and Japanese
Painted – the indispensable fern.

Epimedium, Japanese Painted, Heuchera good old
‘Palace Purple’ and Hellebore.

Schizophragma 'Moonlight'  is usually used as a vine,
but if it has no support, then it is the most divine groundcover...
like its more well-known climbing hydrangea cousin,
Hydrangea petiolaris.

So, if your garden lacks walls – letting them scramble on the
ground is a fantastic use for certain vines.
Here mixed with Persian Big-Leaf Ivy.

Delicious shiny Asarum europaeum with Fern Leaf peony
foliage, Acanthus leaf and what would I do without my
masses of Sedum ‘Acre’.

Sedum ‘Acre’ with a tuft here and there of Black Mondo Grass
(courtesy of April Gornik – but mine never gets as tuftier as hers).

Asarum with Trillium and Arum italicum – one of the most
underused and greatest of all perennials.

Japanese Painted fern – which looks gorgeous with everything – and 

the sweet-smelling mound-forming ever-increasing,
oh what is it called??? begins with a G....

Japanese Painted Fern and Saxifragia, though
I don't know which one.

Violets (this a less aggressive, more sophisticated one that I got from 

Abby Jane Brody... and cherish) with an ever-travelling Disporum.

And  the wonderful Sedum 'Angelina'
mixed with a little Sedum 'Blue Spruce',
which is unfortunately not nearly as willing
to cover my ground.

I could go on and on…and will do just that in the next issue of Dirtier…
and maybe in that book that is hovering in my subconscious…

Happy 4th of July!

Here are some Red, White and Blue arrangements we found -- 

we love the effort that went into them!

Here's to a happy, healthy, safe holiday to all of our friends!

IRIS  EXTRAVAGANZA
 

Went all out for 16 German iris last summer and now, of course, this 

new extravaganza has only made me want more – more 

variations – more subtlety – just More!

Purple/blush salmon called 'Secret Service'
against a young Cornus controversa, the very same 

weeping  white-splashed tiered dogwood that
I fell in love with at Rosemary Verey's Barnsley.

Tear-dropped or rain-splashed…this one, 'Ocelot', 

could make you melt.

The variations, even in solid colors, are just staggering.

These 2 are slightly different.

Perhaps my favorite of the season, called charmingly
'Glamour Pants'.

I usually only like yellow in foliage as a variegate or maybe the 

inconsequential little yellow flowers of a groundcover
like Sedum ‘Acre’,
but this I like…

The pale mustard and white, 'Owyhee Desert', has to-the-real-eye 

purple striations in it and is divine with the pale on vivid.

But here we are and the Iris and

Peony spectacle has dwindled down to almost nothing:

By mid-June they are all gone save for the still-to-come,
dare I say lovelier, Japanese iris.

All of the Iris are from the great specialist
Shreiner's Iris Gardens with a great web site.

PEONY PLETHORA

Breathtaking in its fragility is the woodland Peony japonica.

See it nestled just under the bird's perch,

and Tree Peony 'EZRA POUND'.

I especially love plants and flowers with literary associations.

But this is Heaven, though I have been waiting several years
for these 2 blooms.

PATIENCE....