What’s a cold climate gardener doing in Little Rock, Arkansas? Visiting with P. Allen Smith and a couple dozen garden bloggers, for his fourth annual Garden2Blog event. As usual when I visit a southern U.S. area, I felt like I was in an alien land. Here it was, the third week in May. Back home, the lettuce had been planted, oh, maybe a week or two previously. We did, after all, have a slow start to our spring. On Moss Mountain Farm, Allen’s 600-acre home and botanical laboratory, the lettuce had already bolted.
While my lettuce back home was mere seedlings, Allen’s red lettuce had bolted. That Swiss chard looks ready to eat, too.
And did you see those cabbages?
Pinch me, I must be dreaming! Cabbages this size in May?
The Sunny Knock Out® Rose, aka Rosa’RADsunny’
Here’s something even cold climate gardeners can copy:
Violas in the vegetable garden
And you can grow most–if not all–the herbs in this garden, provided your soil has good drainage:
The herb garden at Moss Mountain Farm.
I really liked this garden bench/trellis combo. Can’t you just see a rose climbing up it?
Can’t you just see this covered with roses?
This is what was blooming at home when I got back from my southern adventure.
That’s just a taste of my whirlwind two-day tour. I’ll be posting about some of the things I learned in the workshops and tours in the weeks to come.
This venerable post oak shelters the house and provides a great place to relax.
What a great pinch me experience….love that funky bud vase!!
It looks like a fun time, Kathy & I look forward to further news from the trip!
Little Rock weather sounds like a normal spring weekend. Glad you had a good time and learned a lot.
Well, of course, Patsy, for where you live, it would!
Oh! What fun. How wonderful to visit that garden. Does the gift shop mean that anyone can visit?
I think they give tours on Thursdays and Fridays. People on the tours can visit the gift shop. But I don’t know if anyone can go on the tours, or if you have to be part of a group.
Sounds like a great adventure! Nice photos. Those cabbage are pretty amazing – mine are still very tiny.
Big fan of his show but my local PBS station stopped hosting it two years ago in favor of Garden Smart. Assuming it was a cost cutting decision because I’ve noticed a lot of fundraising during that former time. So sad…but did enjoy your post on this Southern gentleman.
I love reading your blog and enjoy your posts…keep up the great writing.
I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of your report, but I can see he seems to garden on different scale than the rest of us.
Good for him!
His first residence (“The Garden Home”) is in Little Rock proper and is on a much more intimate scale.