Comments

1. 
   user-1020932 05/03/2013

   another beautiful "tour" i never get to experience public gardens/estates at their peak as i'm too busy in those times. i have seen Biltmore tulips with tight green buds or colorful petals on the earth, roses with green buds or after every stem has been deadheaded and drycleaned same with the azalea garden with a tangle of fallen flowers in the stems . strangely if you call the "color hotline" it's always a glorious day at Biltmore house please do come and enjoy :) and i do even if the color has passed it's prime

2. 
   tractor1 05/03/2013

   Gotta love all those yellow tulips and daffs.

3. 
   meander_michaele 05/03/2013

   I have not visited as many public gardens as I would like (that funny conundrum of wanting to stay home and work on/in my own) but I have been to Chanticleer and it is a total delight. It is such an interesting garden because it has very imaginative hardscaping elements that look great regardless of season. I had occasion to meet one of the original estate owner's grandchildren (now, herself, an amazingly energetic senior citizen). She was visiting my garden and she said, "hey, since you obviously love gardening, if you're ever up in the Philadelphia area, you should definitely see Chanticleer". One of the things I loved most about Chanticleer, is that it has a feeling if intimacy inspite of its generous scale.
   Hey, Michelle, did you take a picture of the rock slab sofa and chair combo with the adorable colorful stone "remote control" sitting on the table?

4. 
   CCCDDD 05/03/2013

   My Master Gardener group is planning a trip to Pennsylvania/Delaware. Chanticleer and Winterthur are on the list so definitely appreciate those posts.
   I understand Meander's conundrum about wanting to stay home and work in your own garden but visit the public gardens. Treat yourself;your weeds will wait.

5. 
   meander_michaele 05/03/2013

   Good advice, CCCDDD, the weeds will always be there for another day! I also suffer from planting fever this time of year...my heart rate literally speeds up at the thought of visiting a nursery and bringing home a few things to further my visions. Ironically, when the high summer temps kick in , that fever cools off...whew!

6. 
   trashywoman62 05/03/2013

   Thanks for the visit, Michelle. I would love to "tiptoe through the tulips" at that garden! I have often thought about doing the naturalizing effect in my yard but then realized how many little slits it would take. And now after seeing these photos, I am afraid I wasn't even planting enough. Now I just pretend the dandelions are tulips!

   The stone arbor is gorgeous! I want that across the entrance to my driveway!! If you zoom in on the stone pathway they transitioned to the larger flagstone area by putting smaller pieces of flagstones vertically in the ground.

   Meander1, I too forget to take time out for public gardens because of working in my own but every now and then I will reward myself by working half a day at home and then half a day doing something fun, like plant shopping or visiting other gardens. We also planned a weekend where on Saturday we checked out gardens along the way to Chicago for me and then on Sunday we visited the Field Museum for my hubby and Monday did the Shedd Aquarium for both of us.

7. 
   tractor1 05/03/2013

   trashywoman62: you need a bulb planting auger, and a variable speed 1/2" drill motor... drills a perfect 2" hole in under five seconds and with no effort whatsoever, you don't even touch dirt. If the auger hits a rock simply move over a bit. Due to its 2" diameter you need to use the auger at a fairly low speed. Most 3/8" drill motors don't have enough torque at low speed, 1/2" drill motors work best. And I much prefer a corded drill motor to a cordless... cordless is okay if all you have are a few bulbs to plant but with corded you can drill hundreds of holes with no loss of power. I plant lots of bulbs each fall, most a distance from my house, I have several 100' outdoor extention cords... a small generator would work but extention cords are less hassle, and I use them in winter anyway for ligting my spruce near the road at Christmas time. You can buy a bulb planting auger at the big box hardware stores or order one from Leevalley.com. I bought mine some ten years ago, I don't know how I lived without it.. it's handy for digging small holes for all sorts of planting, for a larger hole drill several holes right next to each other, easier than using a garden spade/trowel... even good for tilling small beds for say planting herbs. The auger brings all the dirt up out of the hole and deposits it along aside, just push it back with a trowel to cover your bulb... after planting all your bulbs your hands will be as clean as when you began. In fact an auger makes bulb planting so easy you'll wish you had more bulbs to plant so buy lots.

8. 
   trashywoman62 05/03/2013

   Tractor1, can you email Michelle some pictures of your gardens with the bulbs you planted that way so we can visualize just what it looks like when it's done? I realize that these gardens were done professionally but would love to see a REAL planting of them by a amateur gardener doing a large space. After 10 years of planting bulbs it should be beautiful. We would all love to see your garden photographs here on GPOD.

9. 
   MichelleGervais 05/03/2013

   I've been coveting a bulb auger for years. I need to take the plunge. Heck, my husband, as a former carpenter, must have half a dozen drills I can use!

10. 
    tractor1 05/03/2013

    trashywoman62: I just went outside to take a few pictures of my daffs, they are mostly along the creek in front. The creek is pretty barren of plants this time of year and the daffs are well past their prime. I did send Michelle a whole slew of photos I took of my property at one time but I don't do the kind of gardening that people submit to this group, individually they wouldn't make a good representation of the kind of gardening folks submit here. So if you want I would be happy to exchange email addresses with you and I will send you lots of pictures with explanations. I am herewith giving Michelle permission to give my email address to trashywoman62.

    I will down load the few pictures I just took and see if any is worthy to post a tinylink. My pear tree blossoms are about a third open, they're looking great. A few hyacinths are up too. I plant a lot of bulbs as replacements for those the critters dig up. People often stop in front to check out my creek so that's part of why I keep the bulbs replaced.

11. 
    tractor1 05/03/2013

    trashywoman62: The pictures I just took didn't turn out very well, my creek is very barren of greenery until the temperatures climb higher and the daffs best have passed... and it's been very dry so there's not much water in the creek. I have pictures from past years that are much better but it would take time to find them, they are not by topic, only by date. Here are two links, one for my ornamental pear and one of my barren creek. Send me email and I will send more pictures.

    Redspire pear:
    
    Sad looking Creek:
    

12. 
    tractor1 05/03/2013

    MichelleGervais: This is the bulb auger I bought. So far it has held up to planting several thousand bulbs plus other small digging jobs.
    http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=10495&cat=2,2200,33263

13. 
    cwheat000 05/04/2013

    So pretty! Thanks, Michelle for the sweet treat before bedtime.

14. 
    sumhillgardener 05/05/2013

    Michelle, my sister flew into Baltimore from Denver and we went to Chanticleer last Sunday the 28th. Maybe we saw you!
    It is so beautiful and surprisingly unknown. People at the B&B near Longwood had not heard of it. As great as Longwood is, I prefer Chanticleer. What fun to see your photos.
    Thanks !

15. 
    satisfaction 05/05/2013

    These pictures are so wonderful!! Thank you for sharing them. I live in Wisconsin and we're dealing with a foot of new snow on the ground in the first week of May. I can only dream of daffodils.