After our lovely tour of the Wildflower Center, we headed to lunch and sat silently as Tom Spencer inspired us with his insight about the sanctuary of our gardens and the bonds we all share.
Then we trekked over to the Natural Gardener for some eye candy that included amazing plants and garden do-dads, and an amazing vegetable garden, herb garden, labyrinth, butterfly garden, chickens and donkeys. I know the Flingers who drove were happy to be able to squirrel away something in their cars and those who flew were wondering just what would get confiscated if they tried to sneak something home in their luggage!
This is the beautiful herb garden.
Sorrel and a lovely yellow poppy.
Spineless cactus.
Then we sped over to the David/Peese garden paradise which truly is indescribable.
A little posing for the shutterbug!
Bloggers scatter to find beautiful garden treasures.
For people who write so much, we sure were good at talking this weekend.
A stunning red maple understory tree.
An amazing water feature — we all agreed we could have sat and looked at this all day.
See the goldfish looking back at us?
This is the long shot down the steps to that particular water feature.
Looking up the steps from the water feature.
Top of the steps and the back of the house.
Don’t ask me what happened with my centering and justifying, I’m just glad I got the photos and the commentary on my blog.
I hope this helped you feel like you were here. We thought of you – and wish you could have joined us. Maybe next time! We were all in agreement when it was over that we’d love to make it an annual event. What do you think? Are you up for an annual Garden Bloggers Retreat somewhere?
I was so glad to have met you this weekend! I’d love for this to be an annual event, especially if we made it a traveling show… a different city every year??
You don’t know how bad I feel to have missed this FLing. Sure wish I could have been there. Love these pictures. I would sure like another chance to attend. As it is …more pictrues please.
These pictures do make me feel like I was there. Wait, I was there! (Wasn’t I?)
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Well, I almost feel like I was there! So, did you get to meet everyone! With so many how could that be? I’m with Lisa at Greenbow! More pictures! Thanks for your kind words. I’m almost recuperated from the disappointment.
Wasn’t it fun! Good selection of pics, Diana. You give a nice feel for the day.
One note: The herb garden at the Natural Gardener (pictured in your post) was redesigned recently by Lucinda Hutson, who graciously opened her home and garden to those of us able to tour a little more on Sunday. Pics of her garden will be popping up on various blogs soon, I bet.
It was good to meet you this weekend. And you’re right, we sure did talk a lot, especially for those of us who are self-professed introverts! I guess it helps that we all share the same obsession. I can’t remember the last time I was so comfortable in a large group of peole!
Nancy – it WAS so much fun, wasn’t it? I am so up for it every year.
Lisa – more pictures to come and I know now that others are done traveling we will all get to see a ton of them – I can’t wait to see everyone else’s shots and perspectives.
Carol – You WERE there! And we were so glad that you were. I’m so glad everything turned out so well and that the weather was so wonderful, especially since it was 40 in IN yesterday!
Layanee – I DID get to meet everyone – with all the different venues and meals, we were able to mix it up very well and everyone really made a point to get around to meet each other. We exchanged cards (and lots of folks had those cute little flikr cards that Kathy had blogged about from her visit to Zanthan gardens last fall.) I drove the same folks around, so I really got to know them well, which was also nice. And we really couldn’t stop talking – it was kind of funny – we just buzzed like little bees the whole time.
Pam – I can’t wait to see your posts – especially the Sunday outing since I couldn’t make it. You did such an amazing job – we are all still in awe.
Lori – I heard other introverts say the very same thing. I suppose “knowing” people for so long from their blogs made it feel really comfortable. And everyone was just delightful. I couldn’t stop bubbling about it when I got home.
Diana, your photos of the David/Peese garden make me dream of going back to that wonderful place, in my mind’s eye. I could have stayed there forever, well almost. Thanks for driving us back to the hotel and I am glad to see your most beautiful flower arrangement at the top of your sidebar. Well done and thanks again for all your efforts to make this weekend one to remember always.
Frances
Lovely photos and thanks for all your hard work bringing this all together. Lucinda has that same “chard” in her yard, and MSS (I think) told me it’s actually a type of sorrel.
“We buzzed like bees the whole time.”
I think that’s the perfect description of us. It also explains our tendency to wander off whenever a flower attracted us even when we were supposed to be listening to our tour guides.
Vertie is correct. It is a sorrel–which I bought at the Natural Gardener, of course.
Frances – That garden was just astounding, wasn’t it? I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I fell in love with the texture and the hidden paths and all the dense, lush foliage. Wow. It was so great to get to know you – even though I felt like I knew a part of you from your blog. I can’t wait for the next Fling opportunity somewhere!
Vertie and MSS – thanks for the correction on the chard – I’m really not a “greens” girl, but I did plant some chard after reading everyone’s posts this Spring about how great it is and my husband likes it. It’s growing, too! I had a great time with both of you – my head is still spinning with all those vivid memories.
I wish I could have been there too. I would love to have net everyone and toured the lovely gardens. Thanks for sharing the details and pictures.
Robin – we missed you. But it was such a great experience that I am convinced we will do it again and again — somewhere. Glad you like the photos – I tried to capture the group “buzz” of milling about and talking incessantly! And some garden shots, to boot.
Diana,
I really wanted to soak my feet in the lap pool. But seriously, it was a delight to meet you and am I ever envious that there are so many fabulous garden bloggers in one city!
You did a great job of showcasing our day in that incredible garden. I looked up the name of the water feature…it’s called a ‘runnel’, a little running tunnel;)
Gail
I am new to garden blogging but I SO wish I could have been with you all. It looks amazing. and green! everything is still brown here! Thanks for sharing the tour with us.
Kathleen – Welcome to my blog! Glad you enjoyed the tour of the tour. I visited your blog and was so excited to see scrapbooking and paper crafting as well. Scrapping is one of my 3 hobbies along with gardening and blogging. I’ll be going back to check out your crafts.
I already have been saying around the house that if this comes up again, I’m going! What fun. If I wasn’t heading to New Orleans in a week, I would have fit this one in. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Petunia’s Gardener – Oh, I wish you could have come. Well, we all had so much fun that I’m certain it will come up again. Maybe in Chicago next fall. New Orleans sounds like fun – and they have lovely gardens there — you’ll have to post so we can have travel envy.