Off to visit other gardens

Heading to a conference on the other side of the North American continent takes me from Eastern oak-hickory forest and old fields to the damp western slopes of the Cascades. I may not see much in the way of natural areas in downtown Portland, but it is certainly a city of gardens, parks, and focused (and contained) urban growth.

Rosehill Cottage chair

My part of North America (the Southeast) exemplifies sprawl and a larger ecological travel footprint, according to an expert interviewed on our CU-produced program (Your Day) for SC-ETV Public Radio, aired as I was driving to the airport. There’s certainly irony in that, but I guess I believe in the benefits of travel, and hope the carbon offset programs do some good!

But he also spoke about how Portland had made a choice between expanding highways and mass transit, opting for transit. I’ll take a light rail system from the airport to the conference hotel for about $2.30. If I have time to go to the other side of the Willamette River, transit is free in the main downtown area. Remarkable. And unfortunately singular in this country.

I’ll be visiting gardens and nurseries as part of the conference, and interacting with fellow gardening and plant enthusiasts who write, speak, and blog about gardens (with a media mix of TV, web, and podcasting added in).

Florist display in England
Since I enjoy encouraging people to think about learning more about plants, nature, gardens, gardening, and ecology, aside from being a total enthusiast myself – I think I’ll fit right in.

And, I love seeing how other people choose plants for their gardens and create special places. Rosehill Cottage was a private garden that I visited in May under the National Gardens scheme in England -- a weathered cafe chair made a perfect garden vignette. This small local florist clearly arranged her wares in an imaginative and welcoming way.

Visiting English gardens

Leaving home for a couple of weeks, especially at such a nice time of the year in our garden, comes with a few mixed feelings. Everything is green and lush – before summer’s heat starts to crisp things around the edges.

The vegetable plants and tomatillo and eggplant seedlings are doing well, young potatoes are forming (I harvested a few early ones), and the squash plants are looking good.

But it’s also a wonderful time to visit English gardens in their late spring stages; my only previous trip (during the growing season) was in September, also a wonderful time, but a different flowering palette. I’m planning to visit Great Dixter and Sissinghurst again, but am also looking forward to visiting RHS Wisley, West Dean, Beth Chatto’s garden, Nymans, Mrs. Mitchell’s Kitchen and Gardens, Munstead Wood, Downderry Nursery, Iden Croft Herbs, and Chelsea Physic Garden, in addition to as many on the National Gardens scheme that are open while I’m there.

So my sense of anticipation has been building as I finished my last work responsibilities and had time to start planning the details of my garden-visiting schedule (I’m DEFINITELY still working on that – there's been plenty of time in airports and on planes – and I'll being doing lots of planning while traveling). I listened to a podcast from BBC Gardens Illustrated driving to the Atlanta airport, just downloaded yesterday; it was a fascinating program about making a garden, a joint lecture by Fergus Garrett (Christopher Lloyd’s head gardener at Great Dixter) and Sir Roy Strong, sponsored by the Museum of Garden History in London.