I apologize for not writing for a while, although I do have the best excuse. I’ve actually been working in my gardens! Those of you who may know me realize that I have a problem — some might call it an addiction. I collect plants. I create a garden for them. I have too many plants and too many gardens.

However, I am going to pause and take a breather from weeding, fussing and worrying about how all the weeding will get done — spoiler alert, maybe it won’t — and I will enjoy the gorgeous colors, textures, and plants that make up a Vermont spring.

So I climbed in my car and drove around Brandon looking at the town gardens and rain gardens and people’s front yards. I have seen false indigo, which is in bloom in some of the rain gardens and is just gorgeous. I saw all the tulips around the main fountain that Nancy Ness Spaulding puts in year after year. Keep an eye out for her African marigolds. They are planted and heading toward flowering. I am enjoying the irises, the Stella d’oro daylilies, the peonies, the poppies and everyone’s hostas.

It seemed to me that the lilacs bloomed and passed very quickly this year. A friend has put in coreopsis, foxglove, peonies, and grasses — a winning combination — in their front yard. Another has beautiful Japanese maples. Yet another, hydrangea with hosta. I’ve come to the conclusion that anyone looking to learn garden design should just walk around Brandon and see what they like.

I continue to look at what plants I do and don’t have. The only problem is I started looking at peonies and that was as far as I got. I’m building up a list of all of the peony varieties that I am growing — 20 so far, and the list of varieties that I don’t have — 7,000 worldwide and climbing. A person in town said that they were able to see peonies being grown in Holland and the variety and prices were eye-watering. I’d love to take a trip like that someday.

So what do I do when I’m not weeding? I plant. I have been busy planting trees. I’m not sure who got me started on planting trees, but I feel certain that someone else is to blame besides myself. I have some spectacular baby sugar maples from Miller Hill, which are looking absolutely amazing this year. I am planting more sugar maples and some basswood trees for the early pollinators and so I don’t have so much grass to cut. I have planted some crabapples as well for seasonal color.

Garden design is my bugaboo. I know how to grow or can learn to grow almost any plant or shrub, but garden design still eludes me. I do have favorite gardens that I visit occasionally, and I definitely keep plant nurseries catalogs. I even take photos when I see a design that looks beautiful and easy.

There’s one design I like from a plant catalog I’ve kept. It promises to be a perennial monarch butterfly garden — beautiful and purposeful. It sounds amazing. It has two types of milkweed in it, two colors of bee balm, and two varieties of catmint — a short in front and a tall in the back. It also has two colors of echinacea at the sides with the bee balm. So I’m guessing, as the photo of the design doesn’t show where the milkweed is, that it is in the back. I do not know how this design will work in years 3-5 when the milkweed will take over.

So here’s the problem: I do have a bed that needs replanting and I do have some of these plants. But the plant catalog doesn’t specify all the plants it is sending in its ‘package.’ It’s like baking a cake with all the ingredients but with no amounts or directions, and we just have to figure out how to do it. No wonder my gardens can look haphazard and gorgeous all at once. Whether you see weeds or flowers really depends where you fix your gaze. I’ll try to remember to take before and after photos. Meanwhile, here are photos folks took of my gardens this week.