Last weekend was our Open Garden Day. The weather was, weathery.

Two days before the event, the peonies, what some call ‘the queens of the garden’, were the picture of perfection and we hoped against hope that their splendor would hold out through the weekend. Alas, their natural senesence and strong winds deprived visitors of the indescribable beauty that Andrew and I witnessed on May 28th. Nevertheless, peonies alone do not a garden make, and the catwalk challengers;  roses, poppies, nepeta, salvia, foxgloves, honeysuckle, clematis pulled together as a team along with the hostas, lady’s mantle and colorful shrubs, to dethrone the peonies and assert their own collective beauty.

Foxgloves, nepeta, salvia, agastache combine well in the garden.

Michael Fogg’s incredibly beautiful sculpture as garden furniture, must be seen and touched to be believed.

“Faux Bois’ bench created by Michael Fogg

We hosted a cocktail party after the event to give people a chance to learn more about Mike’s creative process as well as to introduce long-time firends and clients to one another. It was a fun time, and birds of a feather flocked together. Speaking of that, of our 28 free-range chickens, only Benazir, the matriarch, who understands that scratching in the perennial borders doesn’t go over well here,  was permitted to mingle with the crowd. She’s a clever bird and quickly sussed out who was most likely to drop their cheese and cracker, and hung around them, tactfully but alert. She too enjoyed the party; immensely.