Mary in full regalia planting the garden in front of the Birch Ridge Inn

Mary in full regalia planting the garden in front of the Birch Ridge Inn

The outdoor migration of plants has begun.

With the completion of the rebuilding of the front garden wall at the inn, Mary has begun her work to make the space come alive.

For several months now the inside of the inn has been turned into a veritable green house to start plants for the inns summer gardens. Every window with a south facing view has seen plants being started; some from seed, other from bulbs harvested from the gardens before the ground froze last fall. In conjunction with her indoor garden of seedlings, for the last several weeks Mary has been working outside in her "bug suit" preparing the gardens to receive the growing plants. But always remembering that we live in the mountains in a climate than can turn hostile to tender young plants, Mary is always hesitant to begin the mass migration plants she has started from her faux green houses to the inns gardens until Memorial Day weekend.

But now the mass migration has begun. The plants are moving outside to their summer homes. Just add water....if it were only that simple!

Mary started the efforts last week with the chef's herb garden behind the inn. (Our restaurant reopens for dinner service on June 22nd). Yesterday she moved plantings to the front garden by the wall I rebuilt. Today she is focusing on some of the gardens in front of and beside the inn. The great news (for me) is that she genuinely likes working in her gardens. I am not sure how she does it in the bug suit (my tolerance for temperature is much too sensitive to work so covered up, and I have the bug bite buffet from the time I was working outside to prove it.) But, as we don't have any small children around the inn to scare, her bug suit serves her well as she enjoys digging in the dirt around the inn.

Right now the plants are just little green stubs, random shoots, and small clusters of leaves. In several weeks, with some sunshine and some constant attention, they will become alive in color as their flowers begin to bloom. By July it will all look effortless....

Just add water....