bwisegardening

Cultivating a Culture of Gardening™

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Pot of Tea, A Garden Walk, A Plant Discovered With Friends to Talk




My new friend, Carol, from May Dreams Gardens was the one who I first heard refer to the Garden Blogger Meeting in Buffalo as "Summer Camp". Yep, we were quite the campers tromping through the rain to all our fun activities (looking at gardens) and walking the mile or so to the mess hall (the 2oth Century Club- every society gal's dream of a mess hall). And there will be lots of stories and pictures of the riot of color and garden passion that I was witness to. So here a few highlights of the event, which wonderfully was as much about the new friendships as it was about gardening and blogging.
One of the best kept secrets in the gardening blogger world are our moms, grandmoms, dads, etc, who have been the impetus for our gardening passion. Louise, who is mom to Kylee from Our Little Acre, came along with Kylee and delighted us with her rich gardening legacy. She also posed for me so you could see just how HUMONGOUS the hostas are up there. There's a theory that some top secret chemical lab is nearby and the neighbors are using this lab's garbage as compost...

Now, twitter folk get a lot of ribbing about "talking with folks that you don't even know" but every once in a while you hear about the way twitter has brought folks together. I have been able to witness the evolution of a fun new gardening blog/business venture as the friendship between twitter friends Kylee, Jan, and Lisa grew through shared twitter chats of gardening, Jane Austen novels, and lots of subsequent phone calls. They formed their venture, Soil Sisters, several months ago, but only met in person this last Thursday night, as captured in this photo.
Along the garden walks we sometimes got to meet the homeowners, which opened up a whole new window of information. I enjoyed talking to Mark who lives on North Pearl in Buffalo. He is a clever man whose taste for using the ordinary to make the extraordinary was a good example of creative recycling. He made his own rain barrel out of a trash can and an outdoor faucet that he bought at the hardware store. Rather than just collecting rain water, he collects the water that comes out of his indoor faucets when he's running the faucet to get hot water, then pours it in this barrel. He said he often gets as much as 6 gallons a day.

Speaking of rain barrels, one excuse I've heard from people who don't want to get one is that they are so ugly. Doesn't take much but a few artistic moments to take care of that problems...
Tea with Hosta experts Mike Shadrack and Kathy Guest Shadrack at their woodland retreat home bordered on being a Jane Austen-like tea party. Quiet creeks, rich scones, shady garden paths, and even barefoot garden gals cooling off in the creek made for a delightful few hours. The Soil Sisters ventured in for some toe dipping while Cobra Head princess, Anneliese, went wondering back up the creek- bringing back to me many childhood memories of creek explorations.
The gardens were fabulous, and as with most things that touch our hearts, the beauty was enriched because it was shared with friends.

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11 Comments:

At July 11, 2010 at 10:12 PM , Blogger Helen said...

A lovely post, Barbara. And, may I say, meeting you was another of the delights of Buffa10. If this was summer camp, none of us will complain to mum and dad about having to go again next year!

 
At July 11, 2010 at 10:20 PM , Blogger Anneliese said...

Barbara,
It was an absolute delight to meet you in Buffalo, and wandering in the creek was the highlight of the trip for me. I definitely got a little kick out of seeing Mike Shadrack turn around and exclaim in surprise, "Kathy, there's someone in the creek!" I do have to say, I'm pretty sure I've never been referred to as "CobraHead princess" before. I may have to start making the rest of the CobraHead team address me as "Your Royal Highness" from now on. We'll see if it sticks.

Hope to see you again soon!

 
At July 11, 2010 at 10:23 PM , Blogger JCharlier said...

Wow, that's a great shot you have of the four stream walkers. Thanks for sharing the weekend with us. I enjoyed it very much.

 
At July 12, 2010 at 10:37 AM , Blogger Commonweeder said...

No one will capture the joys of this trip any better than you have here. It was wonderful to meet you - and know that we will keep in touch out here in cyberspace.

 
At July 12, 2010 at 2:52 PM , Blogger Noel Morata said...

beautiful photos and places shared, i enjoyed my virtual tour, thanks for sharing this

 
At July 12, 2010 at 6:51 PM , Blogger Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

It was wonderful to see all the beautiful gardens, but even better to meet all the wonderful people. It was great meeting you and sharing this experience.

 
At July 12, 2010 at 9:47 PM , Blogger Lisa said...

Barbara,
What a perfect description of the delightful few days that we had in Buffalo. Your photos captured their essence. It's a great experience sharing wonderful gardens with fellow gardeners and bloggers...

 
At July 13, 2010 at 12:24 AM , Blogger Sarah Battersby said...

Love it, Barbara. Great photos and descriptions. So satisfying to relive it all again with our friend's blog posts. And to see pictures from different angles, so we don't miss anything.

Pic of the girls in the stream is amazing.

Was super great to meet my "bus-friend from Raleigh" again in Buffalo.

 
At July 13, 2010 at 11:57 AM , Blogger Louise Hartwig said...

How fortunate that Kylee and all of you allow me to shadow such informative and charming people. I too have made many new friends, and Barbara, you are a real charmer. I loved being in your company.

 
At July 14, 2010 at 7:33 AM , Blogger getinthegarden said...

Beautiful, charming, witty and sincere. You my friend are a true treasure and I was thrilled to finally meet you in person. The pictures are just stunning and your descriptions will serve to take me back whenever I'm lonely for my Buffa10 friends. Blessings!

 
At July 14, 2010 at 5:32 PM , Blogger Kylee Baumle said...

Oh Barbara, this makes me want to be right there by your side, on the floor, late at night, just chit-chatting about "stuff." So fun that we could just do that. I'm so happy to have met you for real. Big, big hugs and much love to you. You're a keeper! LOL

 

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