Springtime At Parkwood

I hadn't ventured far from my own back yard for a while..and that can be discouraging as my back yard right now is quite a mess! I thought it was time to get out and get inspired..check out a garden that was not in disarray like mine, one that was in full bloom, and lovingly tended..one that would send me home anxious to dig and plant!

Parkwood Estate, the residence of Samuel McLaughlin, founder of General Motors of Canada, is now a National Historic Site in Oshawa, next door to Whitby. There are tours of the house, but the gardens are always open to the public at no charge. It was the perfect place to see what a garden can look like and to inspire me to take better care of my own.

I picked a good day to visit for a change..seems that in most of my past visits, it rained! ..and I caught the tulip displays and just in time!..They were almost past their prime, but oh still so lovely. It is just the start of the season, so most of the beds were still empty..but an army of gardeners was out tending to that - busy planting borders and zipping about on their John Deere vehicles..Magic was happening...

Now if only a little of that magic could happen in my garden..and it just might ... Gardening is in the air right now....This is our big May 24th holiday weekend - our traditional gardening and cottage-opening weekend...after which, apparently and interestingly, it is fashionably correct to wear white? but only until Labour Day Weekend in September..Like who made that rule? and Why?  But I digress...

This weekend, there will be much celebrating, lots of fireworks, barbecues, picnics, boating, wearing of white and oh yes, gardening. The myth is that it is safe to plant as of May 24th as the danger of frost has passed...so the garden centres will be very busy and many a spade will hit the dirt. Maybe mine too?  Even if I could just focus on getting herbs into pots, that would be a start...and a cause for celebration..or perhaps a picnic? I have the perfect picnic basket....