Cold Climate Gardening

I have to say that blogging has brought more surprises to my life than I ever imagined. For instance, I had long enjoyed Margaret Roach’s book, A Way to Garden, and had dreamed, no, fantasized, that I might one day visit it on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days. Yeah, right. The other side of New York state might as well be the other side of the world, and Purdys don’t travel. That’s a frivolous use of money!

In my review of the Troy-Bilt tiller, I mentioned that I thought we’d have more use for a chipper than a tiller, but that I was going with the majority vote. Margaret responded by offering her little-used chipper, if we’d come and get it. Even with the cost of gas figured in, I reckoned it was a good deal, with the added benefit of getting to meet one of my favorite garden writers and see her garden. (And it just goes to show you can catch any fish if you use the right bait.)

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In a previous post, I told you a little about the people I met at Spring Fling, the first national meet-up of garden bloggers, held in Austin, Texas on April 5th. Here are photos of some of the places we visited, along with my thoughts and observations. (Click on any photo for a larger version.)
Zanthan Gardens
This is what greets you when you go through the gate and enter the back garden at Zanthan Gardens.

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Photo of Temple Nursery snowdrop courtesy Craig Cramer. All rights reserved.True to his word, Craig of Ellis Hollow did indeed visit the Temple Nursery on Open Garden Day, and took pictures. If you haven’t stopped over to read his account and get a glimpse of the variety possible within the genus Galanthus, now would be a good time to go take a look. I was out of town and couldn’t go …

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My main snowdrop “patch” exactly a year ago. They are not so far along this year. Click the photo for a close-upWith all my blathering on about snowdrops, I almost forgot to mention that Hitch Lyman’s garden will be the Garden Conservancy’s first New York state event for their 2008 Open Garden Days on April 5, 2008. If you are able to visit his garden, you will think you have died and gone to snowdrop heaven, because Hitch is the proprietor of Temple Nursery, selling the widest selection of snowdrops in the U.S. (growing over 400 different kinds, not all for sale) and the only one shipping them in the green. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Don’s Galanthus ‘Bitton’ and G. woronowii both originally came from Hitch Lyman’s land, even if they’ve made an intermediate stop since then.

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Perhaps you read The Secret Garden as a child, and remember this cover? Or maybe you just know that Tasha Tudor lives in Vermont and has a gorgeous garden, chronicled by Tovah Martin and photographed by Richard Brown? (Joe Eck of North Hill helped her with part of that garden; it’s in the June 1989 issue of Horticulture.)

Well! Did you know you can tour her garden, as well as those of her family members living …

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If you are a fan of Martha Stewart Living magazine you might be interested to learn that editors Margaret Roach and Andrew Beckman will each be opening their gardens to the public as part of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program. Details and directions are on the Conservancy’s website.

This and other garden events for upstate New York are listed in the sidebar as I learn of them, and are also posted to a public Google calendar.

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