The Flower Show exhibit

Back to the Big House tomorrow morning, to work in a real garden again.  Because it's been so warm and sunny for the past couple of weeks, things are literally exploding in the Stepchild Garden, so I can't wait to see the thousands of daffodils at the Big House. Here are some last photos of the process of building an exhibit for the Southeastern Flower Show.  My friends worked like dogs on assembling this, but I think it served its purpose perfectly.

This one could be called, "No, that chair is a tree!  The plant stands are lights!  Chuck, please just keep drawing and trust me on this!"

Once we were unloaded, things started to slowly come together..... 

The door and windows of the fake house added another whole dimension..... 

 This is Patti's "What was he thinking?" look..........

A sample of the educational messages scattered throughout the "garden," next to the beehive from the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association. 

The very cool "Night Orb" from The Outdoor Lights. 

Another of those little signs...... 

One of the educational "windows," outlining beneficial insects.... 

The fountain (to attract birds) from the fabulously-talented Carlos Montano. 

Some Miscellaneous Flower Show Photos

Let me apologize from the beginning of this post by saying that I'm probably somewhat "jaded" when it comes to flower shows, so I don't always get great photos.  I tend to focus on details that I think are cool or inspirational rather than what is showiest, biggest, or most flowery.  I'm working in our exhibit garden (GPPA) again most of the day, so I'll try to get some other shots from around the Show.

This is a pretty cool ceiling treatment for a wedding, I thought.  It was done by one of the event companies in Atlanta, A Legendary Event.  Hundreds of pieces of wide ribbon weighted down with crystals and a few butterflies here and there.

This entry display was not the biggest award winner in its division, but I thought it was just beautiful, and a nice relief from the "two boxwoods in black iron urns with annual color" that marks most Atlanta doors. 

A couple of window box exhibits that I thought were very effective, mostly because of the sheer volume and opulence the designers put into them. 

I really loved this effect, below.  The exhibit was still under construction, but I thought the uplit Coral Bark Maples against that stucco wall was just incredible! 

A tulip I found appealing in one of the retail exhibits.  Don't even know its name...... 

Have I gloated about the awards we won in our exhibit yet?  Have I mentioned this is the first time I had done an exhibit of this size?  Or that most of my team had never done a flower show exhibit before?

Here's one shot of our exhibit, depicting a mid-century Modern, in-town Atlanta house.  We are in the educational division, so the goal was to show a realistic garden that can exist with very low maintenance and no chemicals.  These are the floor panels that Chuck built......more about that later!

The Southeastern Flower Show

                                
We're working at the Big House all day today, then tomorrow morning starts the big push for setup at the Southeastern Flower Show.  In typical fashion, my "helium hand" got me in trouble, and I'm managing the installation of a 20x20 garden for the Georgia Perennial Plant Association.  I use the term "managing" very loosely, since that also means loading, building, hammering, cutting, running around, printing, etc.

"How bad could it be?"  I thought, just before the 38-page book of rules arrived......(these flower show people are really a specialized cult, you know......)This year's overall theme is "In Tune with Blooms,"  so we're using a theme of "Rondo" in our display garden.

“Like the musical form of Rondo, gardening always returns to the central theme of healthy gardening practices that support the populations of insects, birds, bees and soil creatures.”

Pictures to follow in a day or two.......if you're in this part of the world, I hope to see you there!

A Few More from SEFS

Here are a few (not good) photos of Kathy Walton's work at the Southeastern Flower Show last week. Kathy is an incredibly talented metal artist who works mostly with recycled goods; she's agreed to do a pretty big piece of art for a giant blank wall on my house, so I'm way excited about that!

Not only does Kathy do metal art, but she's also an accomplished plant person. Her wheelbarrow was a winner at the Show, as was another arrangement she had done with underwater plants.

Hopefully you'll get an idea of how good her work is if you blow the pictures up to see more detail. If not, you'll have to search her out at another show to see for yourself!

The Lady in Red

This is a piece done for the Southeastern Flower Show by artist Tom Chambers. This second photo is part of the board that explains how it was done. The piece was bigger-than-life, and mounted on an 8 x 8 platform covered with moss. The perfect finishing touch was the pair of shoes off in the corner, made of the same twigs. I have such huge admiration for people with this sort of talent. I can usually conceptualize some cool stuff, but could never execute it this well. Thank goodness for people like Tom!

Some Cool Design Ideas from Southeastern Flower Show 2010

The pavers, above, were part of the display by the Georgia Native Plant Society, and I thought were pretty cool. They've taken battery-powered votives, which are under the cut bottoms of wine bottles. It seems realistic for a home garden, since all of the paving is really permanent except those inserts. If you're having a party, just lift up the bottles and replace the candles.

This "fountain," above and below, is from Kate at Bloom'n Designs. It is incredibly simple and incredibly effective. I took these photos before the show opened this morning, so naturally there is no water running. It trickles fairly slowly out of this pipe onto the rock; under the rock is a water-catching basin topped with a screen and slate chips.

Some Photos from the Southeastern Flower Show

This first section of photos is comprised of things that were "arranged." Since I took about 30 photos this morning, I thought I might break them into categories. This first set is of arrangements that I personally found appealing. Above is the centerpiece from a table in one of the competitive categories. The tablescape as a whole didn't win, but I thought the centerpiece was pretty fabulous. Roses and hellebores are such a beautiful combination...shame they don't grow at the same time of year in nature.

The arrangement above is live plants, done in a birdbath. This one took first place in that division, and involved lots of forced winter plants. It was pretty cool to watch over the course of three days as things opened and others faded. Kudos to the entrants for coming back every day to "fluff' it up". The birdbath below took second place in the same category. I liked it because it appears almost to be from the bottom of the ocean.

The terrarium below was done by my friend, Sara, and my photo doesn't do it justice. It won first place in its category and was just beautiful! I'm afraid my photo doesn't give a good image of how softly-faded and aged it was in appearance. You'll have to take my word for how stunning it was! (As usual, click the photos to make them larger.)

Gone to the Flower Show

It has been raining "cats and dogs" since yesterday, which means I'm not in the garden anywhere. Since I coordinate the volunteers for Georgia Perennial Plant Association, it means I'm spending the next couple of days at the Southeastern Flower Show. I spent some time there yesterday, but without my camera, so more posts to follow.

If It Doesn't Bring Me Pleasure, It's Not Worth Doing (in the Garden, at least)

I spent Saturday at the Garden Symposium that is presented every year by the Georgia Perennial Plant Association, at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. More about that in posts to come.
(Doesn't "Garden Symposium" sound so very proper and fancy gardener-like?)

This year's theme was "Back to Our Roots: The Southern Garden Revisited," which is somewhat in keeping with a post here a while ago, talking about having a sense of "place" in one's garden. That was the overwhelming (underlying) theme at the Southeastern Flower Show this year; in a nutshell, stop trying to have a Maine garden in Atlanta, and stop trying to have a Texas garden in Minnesota!

All of this led me to come up with a list of things I spend my time doing in my garden that DO or DO NOT bring me pleasure. I'm committed to spending more time doing those things that bring me pleasure, and less time doing those things that do not.

For example:

1. I'm going to spend more time reading the Sunday newspaper and Martha Stewart Living with a cup of coffee outside in the garden, rather than indoors; that is the whole reason I used for buying the bright blue patio furniture that my neighbors hate; (I know Martha makes us all live in a fantasy world, but I want to BE Martha and live on that "farm" in NY!)

2. I'm going to spend more time exploring more parts of my little garden, rather than just the area I see when I travel from the front door to the truck;

3. I'm going to apologize less for areas that are messy and simply enjoy them as they are. I got over that phobia about the inside of my house a few years ago, so doing the same thing outside is huge progress for me!

4. I am going to stop stressing over the fact that I don't edge my lawn. I hate everything about the lawn, most of all the amount of maintenance it requires. Since it is mostly native "greens" rather than fescue or zoysia, edging seems rather pointless, anyway.

5. I'm getting rid of the fancy heucheras that don't grow of their own accord! As one of my friends said on Saturday, "I believe in tough love gardening. If it doesn't want to grow here, I don't have time to BEG it to grow here!"

6. I'm buying more hydrangeas, and don't care if they're overused! I LOVE hydrangeas (and those I'm willing to beg)!

Support Your Local Garden Center!

Many of you know that I maintain the plants at a penthouse residence in B'head, which is, in and of itself, a pretty awesome gardening experience. Do you have any idea what it's like to maintain an Italian cypress in the sun and wind of the 42nd floor? Needless to say, lots of stuff froze solid during last week's cold snap, so I'm hoping things will revive a little bit with this week's thaw.

I was driving around that area today on a quest for one perfect large rosemary plant, and ended up in several different nurseries that I haven't visited in a little while. Between the combination of last week's weather, the season, the drought and the economy, the visits were depressing on one hand, inspirational on the other.

The big orange box store had virtually nothing in stock, short of some shell-shocked pansies and the promise of lots of deliveries coming in daily.

Hastings' in Brookhaven was a little better, but virtually everything there was an indoor plant. Since I readily kill orchids (not on purpose), I didn't spend a dime. It was a good visit, though, since the sun was shining, it was in the mid 60's and there were tons of worker bees running around getting ready for spring shipments. They did have some cool "pot feet" for only $3 each....those of you who shop at Hastings know that $3 usually buys a bottle of water there!...though their plants are pretty fabulous usually.

Over at Ashe-Simpson Garden Center, it was pretty depressing from the street with the plastic shrouding the plant area, but inside was as cool as ever. The ladies had moved all of the camellias, daphnes, etc., into the cold greenhouse, so it was just bursting with color and fragrance! If you aren't familiar with Ashe-Simpson, you need to go there. Carole, Rosemary and crew are extremely knowledgeable, and just plain "good people."

So my point, four paragraphs later, is SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GARDEN CENTER! There were lots of comments at last week's flower show that things were smaller this year. The truth is that some of the boutique companies are having a hard time making ends meet, much less spending thousands on these shows.

In times like these, with weather like we've had the past couple of years, many of these smaller companies are having a tough time holding on; others, like Perennial Grace, just couldn't keep going for another season, and will be sadly missed in Atlanta. We count on them to introduce new cultivars, give us endless amounts of free advice, listen to our whining, and save the best plants for us personally, so we need to spend some money with them! Consider it your local version of the economic recovery plan! Who couldn't use just one more (fill in the blank) in the garden this year?

A "Sense of Place" in Gardening

I'm finally able to wrap up some things from the Southeastern Flower Show, though my garage still contains a giant tub of plants sitting in moist soil that came out of a number of different containers; one of tomorrow's projects is repotting those things to utilize them in some cool summer display.

I spent much more time at the show this year than I typically do, which gave me the opportunity to really look at some of the awesome exhibits in great detail. The show was smaller this year, but I felt it was much more appealing in lots of ways, as well.

On one of my many forays into the bookseller's booth, I picked up a book called "Great Gardens Great Designers," which starts out talking about how people changed their style of gardening in England at the turn of the last century; specifically they were responding to the Victorian collecting of exotics, and moving in a direction that was geared more to native plants, hardy plants, etc., that were more typical of England. The lightbulb went off for me that this is the same pattern we're seeing now, and it's why there was a certain comfort in this year's display gardens at the SEFS.

It was a treat to see so many gardens that were realistic for Atlanta, and weren't a collection of exotics that need to be disassembled in September to be crammed into the greenhouse for the winter. It seemed that many of the designers featured more of the things that do really well here -- lorapetalum in a million forms, lots of conifers that have proven their value here, azaleas, rhododendrons, gardenias, and such. It was also great to see very little turf being used in the display gardens....let's face it, there is nothing easy about growing a great lawn in Atlanta! What a radical idea to promote plants that actually do well here! Why not have a garden that identifies itself as an Atlanta style, rather than tropical, Mediterranean, or desert?

I was very proud to have only purchased two new plants for my garden at this year's show. First I got an amazing pine (Pinus densiflora "Aurea") with chartreuse needles that is going to be amazing against a backdrop of magnolias and hollies in my garden; second, I got several "Bramble Ferns," which are native. Anyone who know me is clear that I'm not one of the native plant geeks, but this fern is just beautiful, growing about 3 feet tall in and around camellias, pines, azaleas, etc. It's my new filler plant, to bring some sense of order to my wooded area......as if that's possible.....

The Second Incarnation of the Box

Here's the second version of the box, which I tweaked based upon the comments of the first round of judges. If you click on it and blow up the photo, there is an awesome new hellebore called "Pine Knot Select" that came from Ashe-Simpson Nursery, as well as that euphorbia called "Glacier Blue," which is great because it stays that color year round.

I also added in fake diamonds, and gave more explanation to the dragonfly in the "statement of purpose." The Duke of Windsor always believed that dragonflies embody the souls of the dead.
Am I creeping you out yet?

If you're in Atlanta and haven't been to the Show yet, you need to go! It's got some great displays this year!

The Duchess of Windsor & Buck Jones, Part Deux

So the infamous window box for the Southeastern Flower Show got installed today, at last! It's the first time I've done anything like this, so it was a very cool experience. I had no idea how persnickety some of these plant people can be. I must admit that I still don't understand what makes a hosta leaf win a blue ribbon while another wins a red, but that's another story.

The photo doesn't give great clarity with color, since the wall behind the box is really a taupe color, I believe to give the illusion of stucco.

I also didn't think I'd be able to fit that many plants into one 5 foot basket, but it took the full lot of them, plus about a dozen pansies, to boot!

Before you say, "It's very dark," remember that this box is themed around departed lovers, in this case the Duke of Windsor. The mood of the whole thing was "Winter seems much colder now that he's gone."

Patti's critical eye (and knife-wielding skills) were a huge asset, as was the always-theatrical Laurie from Buck Jones, who felt the bare climbing hydrangea looked "appropriately dead." The dragonfly lantern that Chris powered with a motorcycle battery buried in the soil hopefully pushed this over the top. Anyone from metro-Atlanta should remember that there is no better lighting company than his.

Will let you know if I placed at all in this competition once I know something. For now, goodnight! PS. I didn't realize until just now that if you click on the photo, it is visible in a much larger format! At least it will show some detail!

Buck Jones and The Duchess of Windsor

At this moment it is 26 degrees in suburban Atlanta, which is a ridiculous concept! Just needed to get that out of my system....

This was one of those days that reconfirmed why I like to garden, and spend most of my life surrounded by gardeners. I went to Kelli Green Nursery very early for pinestraw, where Kenny was completely bundled up in all of these layers, simultaneously talking about how frigid it was this morning and also enjoying the novelty of it all. In true gardener fashion, he was off to test the extra heaters that would be needed to keep the plants going through this cold snap. The others who work there were all inside, since "they don't know how to dress for this weather." I'm not sure why Kenny and I both felt there was something to be proud of in our actions....after all, the others were inside enjoying morning coffee.

I spent most of the day doing what could be done in the garden, spreading pinestraw, making sure the precious koi were doing ok in this arctic weather, tending some things in the glass house. As much as I enjoy being a martyr, it was an easy choice when Jean said, "What about Mexican for lunch?"

Later in the afternoon, I visited Buck Jones Nursery (another favorite spot!), on the never-ending hunt for the PERFECT plants for the Duchess of Windsor-themed display I'm doing for the Southeastern Flower Show in a couple of weeks. Some of you already know that the direction of said display has changed thirty or forty times, and I'm now buried under a number of different (expensive) plants, each representing a different season of the year (that is now not being considered). This latest incarnation is going to be representative of the winter season, after the Duke had died. (The overall theme of the SEFS garden design division is "Lover, Come Back")

In my usual way I pulled Laurie away from what she was doing to help me find the PERFECT plants, meaning something the world has never seen before, something that will make me look brilliant, and something that isn't expensive......oh, and they have to represent my statement that "winter seems colder now that David is gone."

We probably looked a little ridiculous to a bystander, each in our "this is really silly looking but is keeping me warm" outfit, but we did find a few great candidates. You'll be relieved to know that as of this moment, the climbing hydrangea (just starting to bud) will figure prominently in the display......or end up with the others, unused, in my garden later this year.

PS That's not Buck Jones in the photo with the Duchess of W