A Late-Spring Stroll in the Perennial Garden

Posted in Around the Garden on May 26 2011, by Ann Rafalko

The weather was just fabulous yesterday, so I decided to take advantage of it and left my cubicle for a stroll through the Perennial Garden. It was packed with happy visitors sitting in the sun, snapping pictures, and strolling through the long-awaited sunshine. I had a great time chatting about flowers, our current exhibition, Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra, and the Garden in general. Here are a few pictures I managed to snap in-between conversations.

The peonies along Perennial Way are in full flower, and they are spectacular. They’re magnetic; no one can walk past them without stopping to admire, touch, and smell them.

So pretty.

The Perennial Garden is broken up into “rooms,” each one delineated by a hedge. These rooms add a nice sense of geometry to what can be an otherwise delightfully chaotic garden.

It was very sunny yesterday. I love how this woman’s lilac outfit contrasted against the hot colors in this “room” of the Perennial Garden.

These poppies were a hit with everyone! They’re huge and fabulous and the color is just amazing, though a little hard to photograph. I had a lovely conversation with a young, aspiring photographer about these flowers. I’m kicking myself now for not having asked her to send some of her photos in for the blog. If you’re out there Miss Aspiring Photographer, please let me know if you’d like to share some of your beautiful photographs!

Though not a part of the Perennial Garden, the Ladies’ Border is a natural extension of any visit to this garden. Just stroll to the end and turn right. It’s chock full of amazing, fragrant irises right now, along with beautiful Chinese fringe flower trees, ornamental alliums, and so many other fascinating plants.

The Herb Garden, the final “room” of the Perennial Garden is a really great place to sit and read, or even to catch-up on a bit of work. It has plenty of shady benches and smells awesome.

At the end of my walk through the Perennial Garden, I’m always full of ideas that I’m just dying to try out in my own garden. So I usually walk over to Shop in the Garden to see what they’ve got that I can take home. Yesterday I was severely tempted by a topiary clematis vine, but better judgment won out. There is no way I would have been able to lug that thing home on the subway!