Gardening and Gardens

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the Garden Bloggers Fling in Seattle, WA. Although many garden bloggers have been meeting in various cities for the past four years, this was my first time attending. It was wonderful to put faces to the blogs I read and to meet garden bloggers from all over the country - some blog for fun, some for professional reasons, some are garden book writers, some are photographers and some have jobs completely unrelated to gardening. But the common thread was the love of gardening, horticulture and landscape design. Each of the four days was carefully planned by the Fling organizers so that we were able to see both private and public gardens in the Seattle area. I am excited to share with you my photos of the trip, but for the sake of space, I will divide the blog posts into sections. So be sure to come back to read it all! Here are some of my personal favorites from the private gardens we visited: Garden #1: Tucker Garden Shelagh Tucker spe...

It's been raining here all week. I can't remember the last time it has rained five consecutive days in a row. And not just a little drizzle, I'm talking about full fledged downpours! So needless to say, by yesterday, I was feeling down in the dumps. The weather certainly has a big impact on my mood and state of mind. In between showers, I passed these Poppy buds in a neighbor's yard. I love the fuzziness of the stem and bud, but also how their heads droop downward. Their "droopy" state was sort of symbolic to how I was feeling. I couldn't help but smile when I passed them. Hopefully, in a few days, the sun will come out, the Poppy's bright orange flower will be on display and I will be in a much better mood! The other thing that helped me feel better yesterday was weeding. The soil was so wet, it was very easy to weed the vegetable garden. The repetitive nature of the weeding, coupled with the rich smell of the wet earth was simply meditativ...