I have never been to Chanticleer in the spring. Usually, things are too busy here with spring sports and gardening to go for the day; but with a clear schedule, we went. It was wonderful.
The most inspiring part of the visit was seeing all the containers. I often find spring pots hard to put together, but with a combination of colored branches from dogwoods and willows, climbing vines, leafy vegetables, and some flowering plants, each pot conveyed the fun and excitement of spring.
It was also good to see which annuals be set out early. Usually, I plant bulbs for most of my spring color in my beds, but I was inspired by Chanticleer to use some annuals such as the African daisy (Osteospermum) which can tolerate cool weather too.
Chanticleer’s large drifts of bulbs (pictured) are a hint to the abundance of summer which will follow. I have not planted any bulbs in the lawn, but I’m thinking of doing so in the fall. My daughter loved that you could walk through the flowering bulbs as if they created a meadow. It is those kinds of romantic vignettes that make Chanticleer memorable.
In this trip, I was also able to see things which are more hidden later in the season. To see how hard they cut back their shrubs teaches me how much to cut mine back. I wanted to much a hill in our garden with pebbles, but I hesitated thinking that they would roll down. However, at Chanticleer there is a hill as steep or steeper than mine mulched with pebbles (pictured) and they are not all sitting at the bottom of the hill.
Related posts: Garden Color at Chanticleer and Early Spring Containers
Heirloom Gardener 
