On Monday, I finished planting all the gardens. EVERYTHING IS IN! My last task was to plant a bed of “Elfin” Thyme down on the spot where we tore down the old house last fall. As a planted this spiral of baby Thymes, I imagined the plants filling in to form a solid bed of magenta blossoms and humming honeybees.

As the last plant was dug in, I was happy to see rain clouds hovering to the southeast and with this promise of precipitation, I went home to wait for this much needed rain which fell gently all yesterday.

So yesterday was a rest from gardening. It was a treat to have a day in which I had no role in the gardens but as observer. A mini break holiday before other jobs of summer call. A chance to wander in the soggy gardens and realize that while I used to have a lot of opinions about peonies back in my twenties, now I love them all.

I even love the bomb types that, somehow, I found over the top earlier in my life as a gardener.

Tomorrow it will be time to begin projects like deadheading all the lilacs, weeding the blueberries, and other jobs that never got done in April and May. But yesterday and today I just enjoyed the early roses and other June beauties.

I am a lucky woman.

The great thing about spring and summer is there is never really a moment to mourn the passing of one magnificent blooming plant because others are following with their own radiant show.

As we bid goodbye to such spring lovelies as Alliums, Tree Peonies and Bleeding Hearts.

We are greeted with the arrival of Roses, Iris, Poppies and so many other beloveds.

Much as I would like nothing better than to keep my nose buried in the Flowers like the honeybees, I’m not quite finished with planting the gardens and must take myself elsewhere. My last two big planting projects this week have been the Red Shiso and the Venus Garden. During the last couple of days, Emily and I planted the Red Shiso. This is a very frost sensitive plant so we wait until we are pretty sure there won’t be any more frosts before sowing this seed. It is the one crop that we can’t manage without so everything to do with the Shiso gets a lot of focus. This is true of the Venus Garden too because of its cutting edge role in our Flower Essence Collection and the way this garden takes us forward on our Green Hope Farm camino.

This morning, no one was around to help me start planting the Venus Garden so, while a cardinal bird sang to us, I drafted MayMay and Riley to give moral support.

They rose to the challenge and did their assignment of resting nearby with great panache.

One of the new collections of Flower Essences at Green Hope Farm is our wonderful Camino collection made last June and July by Elizabeth Sheehan.

I remain eternally grateful that while she walked from the Pyranees in southern France to Santiago de Compostela and Fisterra in Galicia Spain on this ancient pilgrim route, she stopped to smell the Flowers AND make us some mighty Flower Essences.

And there are more gifts coming! Elizabeth spent the last year writing a book about her Camino. It’s in the final stages of layout and editing before a press run later this summer. All of us at Green Hope Farm can’t wait to share this book, Once Upon a Trail, with you. It’s a gripping read!

We will keep you posted and offer the book to one and all as soon as it is published!

In the meantime, Elizabeth decided to finish her year of writing about the Camino by giving herself the gift of a second Camino.

Yesterday, we launched her again, almost a year to the day when she left for her first Camino.

Here she gets some last minute trail pointers from May May who trained with Elizabeth all year. In between writing sessions, they clocked over a thousand miles of walking to prepare Elizabeth for today when she arrives in Madrid then makes her way by train, bus and taxi to the trail head at St Jean Pied de Port at the foot of the Pyranees.

It was a great idea. It seemed like a good idea. I’m not sure it was a good idea.

We would get a professional to groom and clip May May and Riley with a puppy cut.

It would the first time in their relaxed country lives that they got gussied up. It would be the first time since the womb that they would be naked.

I tuned in to the two of them before making the call to the groomer. Neither seemed to have an opinion, but then why would they? Would any self respecting country dog ask for this? “Yes, I like the idea of being shaved from neck to toe.” Can you imagine either asking for this? If only I had known what I know now…….

Oh yes, hindsight is always 20-20.

So we went for it.

Gave them both a puppy cut for the summer. Told ourselves things like, “They will be so cool during hot summer months.” Like today, when it is about 40 degrees and they are holed up on the couch wearing an expressions that says “Wrap me in heated blankets.”

They could be saying, “Look how buff I am! I walk ten miles a day and it shows.” But they aren’t saying this.

May May is saying, “How COULD you?” and Riley is saying, “Just let me hide under this table until this indignity passes.”

And what am I saying to them, in addition to ” I’m sorry.” I am saying, “Your lovely hair will grow back and we won’t try this stunt again unless you make it clear that you really love it.” I don’t know what this would take for me to be convinced. Every time I see one of them I am shocked speechless!

Maybe it is time for the heated blankets to cover them up, and not just for them! After seven years of a lot of hair, their hairless state is too much information for all of us!

When the Baltimore Orioles arrive, it is hard not to think, SUMMER IS HERE. And the Baltimore Orioles are here, settling in and giving us their frequent telltale flash of orange.

As this long lovely Memorial Day weekend unfolded, it was hard to be patient about waiting to plant out the tender annuals ’til next week when we are past the frost danger, especially as the plants in the cold frames and greenhouse looked miffed by their potbound existence.

So yesterday saw me roll the dice and plant out some tender plants that can’t handle frosts. Fortunately, I only took pity on a few of the bevy of impatient greenhouse beauties.

I say fortunately because my decision to plant some tender annuals immediately proved a bad call.

As I tucked in the last of dozens of Cosmos and Cucumbers, feeling oh so organized and happy with myself, neighbor Teddy came by to tell me we were going to get a frost.

At dusk, as I scurried around with yards and yards and yards of protective season extender cloth, the skies grew crystal clear and cold in that pre frost sort of way. I covered all the newly planted baby plants with gobs of this white cloth and went to bed hoping the wind wouldn’t blow all the cloth off the plants during the night.

At five this morning, I crunched across the icy grass to see how many had died where the wind had blown off the cloth. There were a few casualties especially among the Cosmos. Thirty years here and you’d think I would get it. Let everything in the greenhouse look peaked and potbound for a few days. Its better than the alternative.

So lesson learned. The restless 120 tomato plants and the flats and flats of perky basil, peppers, and eggplants are going to have to wait Pot bound and safe they will stay ’til next week.

In any case, the tough perennials, impervious to frost, are putting on a wonderful show in the gardens.

I can’t get enough of these Purple Sensation Alliums and have them everywhere. The bees love them at least as much as I do.

A new color Tree Peony is blooming here for the first time. These Flowers are simply over the top.

I love our Red Chestnut tree. Their candelabras look so unusually tropical for our arctic climate. As a Flower Essence, we offer Red Chestnut individually and also put it in our mix “Anxiety” because it is for those who get anxious for others. A real gem of support and one of Dr. Bach’s original 38 remedies.

Up close, it only grows in calming sweetness. Now, I am off to fold up all the season extender cloth, hoping I won’t be yanking it all out again to use tonight.