Peconic River Herb Farm

It's finally here! It's Spring!!

If only I could rush outside and see dew drops on my ladies mantle. Unfortunately most of our beds are still covered in snow or dusty leaves. It will be two more weeks before I uncover everything so right now I'm still living in anticipation mode.

Alchemilla mollis (Ladies mantle) is one of my "can't live without" perennials. I always explain it by saying it's like adding crown molding to a bare painted wall. Ladies mantle makes all of it's companions look fabulous. It's the ultimate tapestry plant.

There are no visions of sugarplums dancing in my head right now. The only visions are of the garden centers and nurseries that I will be visiting in a very short time. Luckily we have so many of them available to us here on Long Island. This year I hope to adventure out and try a few north and west of New York city too.

Peconic River Herb farm is a must visit nursery for any gardener on Long Island. Pack a picnic lunch and a chilled bottle of champagne, there's plenty of places to sit and have lunch.

I love all their quirky garden art like this planted wheelbarrow.

Last year it was cold and rainy when I visited the herb farm but it didn't stop me from taking photos and buying plants too. They have a fabulous selections of herbs (of course) but also a surprisingly large selection of perennials, annuals, shrubs and small trees. The staff there is super helpful too.

If you get to visit, save time to walk the large grounds. You'll find all kinds of plant combinations and ideas every which way you turn. There's many mature trees so you'll get lots of ideas for semi-shade areas if that's your style. I love this combination of Epemedium, Dicentra spectablis (bleeding hearts) and Podophyllum (May apples).

The rustic charm and sounds of nature will whisk you away to a place far far away from home. 

I can't wait to go back again this May. Maybe I'll see some of you there...

We are all bundled up inside while the wind and rain and sleet swirls around us. Long Island was under a blizzard warning today but temperatures rose just above freezing so it's pretty much rain now.

Spring is just around the corner and it's all I can do to keep from starting to clean up the garden. I've always been a perennial kind of gal but last season one of the stars of the garden was my Coleus on the front porch. You can bet I'm going to add more of these.

Sitting out on the front porch is one of  my favorite pastimes. You can see how small the Coleus was at first.

Total sun is hard to find here at our little cottage. Wherever I find it I tuck in some succulents.

The front curb was wasted space so it too became part of the garden.

This post is mostly a test, there have been so many changes to blogger that I'm playing around to see if I can post again. I miss my garden friends!