Next week is my annual get together with on-line garden friends from all over the US and Canada. You can read some background on the event
HERE. If you follow this blog you may remember the fabulous time we enjoyed last year gallivanting around gardens in Oregon and Washington. Below is a highlight of the places we visited.
For our 10th annual gathering we are heading to Long Island, NY where we will no doubt dash madly over hill and dale visiting the usual mix of public and private gardens. Also on the agenda is a tour
Landcraft Environments, a premier wholesale grower of tropical plants and a detour to NYC to see the
Highline and the
Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Long Island is relatively close to me but I'm not fond of crowds and traffic and rarely venture anywhere near the metro NYC area. Every place we visit on this trip will be a first for me, including the much anticipated High Line.
A houseguest arrives from out of state on Friday in advance of the official festivities. In the time between Friday and when we travel to New York I will be carting her around to the homes and gardens of a few of our long time group members. We will be visiting friend's gardens in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. On the night before we leave, another guest arrives from the left coast and I will be hosting a small garden party at my house.
Because she's just that way, Mother Nature has done her best to conspire against progress in the garden. Two out of the past three weekends have been crappy on the weather front. On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we broke a record for the lowest high temperature. Last weekend came at the tail end of a heat wave. This past Friday we received four inches of rain overnight early into Saturday. It rained again last night and this afternoon it must have rained buckets here because I have gullies and washouts in just about every backyard garden area.
In a frenzy that I will freely admit is self imposed, I've been out straight in the garden trying to get everything put together in advance of the onslaught and ensuing frivolity. The twenty hours I spent in the garden over the past weekend playing catch up were not enough. As a result, I still have four or five yards of mulch languishing in my driveway, lots of weeding and dead heading to do, and cleaning of both out and indoor rooms. With no hope of getting the front gardens company ready in time, I think my best course of action will be to rope them off with crime scene tape.
On the flea bag front, both residents have required trips to the vet in the past week. Poor Nick spent one night in the ER and one night at his regular vet hooked up to IVs. Fortunately every body and every thing seems to be on the mend now except my finances. Nothing busts the budget faster than a trip to the ER vet.
Despite all the brouhaha and weather calamities, I'm happy with the direction the garden is headed. As plants fill in and the containers get going I imagine it will only get better. Now if I can just keep the Hooved Minions of Satan at bay...
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| You lookin' at ME? |
Sue~
We are clearly trained professionals in garden touring ...who lives better than us ???
ReplyDeleteYeaaaa!!!! Idyllunion again. Sue the last time you told me your front garden was off limits it was still beautiful so no worries. Can't wait to see all my buddies again. What fun, what fun!
ReplyDeleteHow great to have a long standing bunch of garden friends to get together with each year. I laughed at the crime tape around your front garden! Oh, the stress of getting ready (but everyone will see only the beauty and not all the work still to be done.)
ReplyDeleteHave a great time at the High Line. I've been twice now, and it's well worth it. A really interesting space, and the plant choices are wonderful, the whole concept an inspiration. Fun times coming up.
We are all own own worst garden critics, aren't we Laurrie? My garden is never ready this early so although it isn't where I would like it to be, it's in relatively good shape for this time of year.
DeleteThis a remarkable group of gardeners. A few have become some of my closest friends. So funny that we all met on line and most of us have stayed together for more than ten years. Good things do come from the internet.
How fantastic! Enjoy your time together with friends. They'll understand that you can't have everything looking great when a tropical storm passed nearby and your furbabies have been ill.
ReplyDeleteMany of us are in the same boat, so to speak. After the 2-4 addition inches of rain we are suppoed to get over the next 24 hours I may well need a boat to get around.
DeleteSounds like so much fun and I'm looking forward to the pictures. I know it will be just as if I took the garden tours with you!
ReplyDeleteStill laughing at Hooved Minions of Satan!
But they sure are cute!!!
Four of us have blogs so there should be many pictures and different takes on the trip.
DeleteEnjoy New York! If you are on Long Island, you might want to visit Old Westbury gardens, which used to be one of my favorite places to visit. Of course, haven't been there in close to two decades.
ReplyDeleteI thought Old Westbury was on the itinerary but I just checked and it's not. Too many gardens not enough time-just another reason to go back at some point.
DeleteOnce again I am missing this year's event for family reasons. And Bonnie, I beg to differ. Photos do not compete with the in person experiences. This is one very special group of garden people who have bonded over the past 10+ years. I'm hoping that next year I'll be able to join in once more. It's more than gardens: camaraderie, exquisite food and drink, pet talk, families, photography and sharing of blogs as well. Did I forget fun and laughter? Plenty of that!
ReplyDeleteMaybe next year, Marie. Enjoy your time with the grandkids!
DeleteOh to think you were here in MY GARDEN last summer, how lucky am I? (Very)...hope you are able to pull your place together to a point that you feel good about it (because that's what's important, everyone else is going to think it looks fabulous no matter what). Wish you were going to join the GB Fling in SF this year but I'll enjoy your Idyllunion posts instead. Have fun!!!
ReplyDeleteIf the GB Fling wasn't so close to this trip, I would have seriously considered going. Loree, I loved your garden. We visit alot of nurseries, and public gardens on these trips but it is the private gardens and gardeners who host us who make the trips special.
DeleteSounds like a fun tradition. Brooklyn Botanic is one of my favorite places on earth. It might even be worth the hideous NY area traffic. Might.
ReplyDeletePoor Nick. I hope he's doing ok and that he won't mind your going too much. Between dogs and gardens, it's a miracle we have any money left to buy food and gas.
I've been to the NYBG and Wave Hill (love Wave Hill) but not Brooklyn. Looking forward to it all! Fingers crossed that the flea bags stay healthy while I'm gone.
DeleteSue, these gardens look beautiful and I'm sure you'll all have fun, but I'm looking forward to having the Nickster!! (please just provide ER Vet info.) wink wink
ReplyDeleteAs long as you don't have squirrels and birds fishing food out of dumpsters and dropping it in your yard you likely have nothing to worry about. I assume the offender this time around was a protein bar from the GNC store or something equally as rich. Sent him into a severe attack of pancreatitus. Oy!
DeleteDid we really do all that last summer? What a great photo essay to bring it all back. Kicking myself that I didn't allow time to see your garden, mulch pile or no mulch pile, and get to meet Nick and the Twerp.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that PNW trip was almost eleven months ago. You're welcome here any time-IU or no IU. Usually there is always a mulch pile so I promise you won't be disappointed.
DeleteI so wish I'd had a chance to meet you when you were in the area last year...oh well...maybe next year (hint, hint)! I can't wait for your posts on the High Line...I SO want to got there!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a ton of fun! Next year come to the DC area! Seriously!! I'll keep you plenty busy. :o)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your visitations. I worked like a fiend to get my garden ready for a tour in May. I have not done squat since then, and the neighbors will soon be passing a petition around. Take care of your four-legged ones.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics from Oregon, Sue!
ReplyDeleteI think they'd take exception to being called Hooved Minions of Satan!
Aren't you and your gardening friends going to have fun! What a great annual tradition.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun we had! Hopefully I'll get through the pictures and be able to blog about some of our adventures soon.
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