For the last decade, Ann’s Place has celebrated the summer solstice with a tour of the gardens, seasonal readings and a locally sourced supper or afternoon tea. Unfortunately, this has not been possible this year. This was a double disappointment for me as I had planned to open my gardens to the Ann’s Place clients for a stroll and refreshments. Instead I have put together a video tour of my gardens so clients can get a glimpse of what I have been up to in these cloistered times.
This year has been similar to others as Spring continues to shrink in duration. Until the last week of May, we had fires in the wood stove and frost advisories. Then in a blink of an eye, it became hot and everything exploded in the garden. I did lose some tender plants in May because I put them outside too early but was able to replace them so I can keep us in tomatoes, peppers and other warm weather veg throughout the Summer.
These challenges, hardly new, are well-documented by Connecticut author Martha Adams Rubin in her book, Countryside, Garden & Table: A New England Seasonal Diary. “The gardener’s investments are plants and diversifying them allows the garden to grow more securely. One year may produce poor broccoli, peas and lettuce but great melons. A cool, rainy summer is likely to intimidate the tomatoes, but their cousins the potatoes will be wonderful. . . .These caprices of nature can’t be wholly compensated for, but diversification as well as forethought and daily observation of the garden, may divert calamity.”
It is daily observation more than anything that makes any of us good gardeners and appreciative of what Mother Nature serves up to us. This morning on the way to the supermarket I saw a baby rabbit cross the road and on the way back a father fox seeking breakfast for his kits. Butterflies and hummingbirds are spending much time at my house sipping nectar from the many flowers in bloom. A bald eagle hovers on the thermals on the hill side quieting nesting birds. This is all part of Summer’s glory. To see any of it, just stop, take a seat and look out. You won’t be disappointed.
