Oklahoma, here I come!

– Posted in: Miscellaneous
10 comments

Garden Writers symposium bannerAs many of you know, I am a member of the Garden Writers Association. A while back, I was asked to be a member of a panel discussion on garden blogs at the annual symposium, which is being held this year on September 28th through October 1st in Oklahoma City.

This explains the message on the tip box, way down at the bottom of the sidebar, that says, “Help me get to Oklahoma City.” Much to my grown offspring’s astonishment, the GWA doesn’t pay the expenses of their panelists. You get a small honorarium and a big hint that they hope you’ll donate it back. And my household budget doesn’t usually include a line item for travel. So I am getting paid for a few writing assignments and I get a little income from those ads in the sidebar, and, exercising extreme restraint, I didn’t buy any plants this spring. Talk about dedication!

This is going to be quite an adventure for me. I’m excited and anxious, nervous and thrilled, prepared to have a blast and scared to death I’m going to make some kind of expensive mistake, so in the next couple of days I plan to be asking you, dear reader, for advice. In the meantime, I’m trying to think of this as a gardening vacation that just happens to have the first public speaking I’ve done since, um, speech class in high school thrown in for good measure. Yikes!

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.

~Adrian Higgins in The Washington Post, November 6, 2013

Comments on this entry are closed.

Oldroses July 5, 2007, 11:59 pm

How thrilling! I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful time!

Kathy Purdy July 5, 2007, 5:29 pm

Carol, you are right on both counts: I really wanted to go, and it has been good for me to focus on improving what I already have.

Thank you all for your support and good wishes.

Robin (Bumble July 5, 2007, 5:03 pm

Good for you! I wish I could be there among the garden literati.

I have learned when making presentations (which, sadly, I do a LOT), is be prepared (duh), slow down, breathe deeply and ask the audience questions to get them involved.

Bon chance! You’ve got my support!

–Robin (Bumblebee)

bill July 5, 2007, 12:08 pm

Great. I’ll try to help.

Carol July 5, 2007, 7:24 am

Congratulations! We’ll be looking forward to your report from the conference.

(You must have really wanted to go to give up buying new plants this spring! Although, that might be a good thing for any gardener, to make them focus on improving what they already have for at least one year.)

Xris (Flatbush Gardener) July 5, 2007, 7:09 am

I wish I could make the conference. I joined GWA this year, hoping to improve my writing. As my qualification for membership, I wrote that I author a gardening blog.

They’ll let anybody in [g].