I'll confess that I have never been away from southern Lancaster County for more than 23 consecutive days. That may dim my worldview, but I wonder how many areas are blessed with as many horticultural resources as we are.

Of course we have three former duPont family gardens that provide both viewing and educational opportunities. If your mind stalled after Longwood and Winterthur let me introduce you to the most recent one to open to the public.

Mt. Cuba is just down route 41 south of Hockessin, Delaware. Over the years they made a commitment to study and introduce plants that were native to the eastern piedmont. If your geography vocabulary needs help, the eastern piedmont is that area west of the Atlantic coastal plain and before the spine of the Appalachian Mountains.

Many of the native plant selections now in the market place traveled through Mt. Cuba. While Winterthur, in the spring, shines with exotic bulbs and azaleas/rhododendrons Mt. Cuba offers a great array of spring flowering ephemerals and meadow plantings later in the summer.

Sunday, April 26 they offer free tours of their spring wonders. If something man put together is not your cup of tea, approach the Susquehanna River on route 372 and head north on River Road. There are several great spots there.

Last Sunday I spent much of the day with binoculars strapped around my neck and back. I saw some great birds but the high point was a stop at Shenk's Ferry. The woods were carpeted with white dicentra (Dutchman's Britches), the bluebells and white trillium were starting to bloom and I found a beautiful patch of trout lilies. Their information claims the site is home to about 60 native wildflowers during the season.

Several days ago I was informed about an interesting home garden tour. The James Buchanan Foundation sponsors it. In a different twist, they located 50 gardens scattered throughout the county. Each garden selected agreed to host the public on two days sometime during the gardening season. I suspect that most of the open dates will occur in the spring. Call Wheatland for details.

The Lancaster County Conservancy has acquired over 20 natural areas within the county. In an effort to encourage visitation to these areas, they, in cooperation with the Lancaster County Bird Club, are sponsoring a bird-a-thon.

In short, members of the bird club will lead tours into some of these areas on May 16. Like any whatever-thon the goal of course is to raise funds for the conservancy. but it is a wonderful opportunity to experience some areas many of us never knew existed. For details, contact the Conservancy.

For those of you who are into more traditional flowers, Penn State University, in cooperation with the Master Gardeners of Lancaster, run extensive field trials near Landisville. They are open to the public at no charge. The trials are one of the best in the country. They also run a home gardeners tour sometime in July, I think. The master gardeners can be reached at 394-6851.

It would be easy to ramble on, but maybe I should think about my worldview and plot a longer absence, but then again why pass up the myriad local opportunities.