Does anyone do hospitality better than Southerners? Perhaps. But I can’t think of who right now because last week I was in Davidson, NC, speaking at the Davidson Horticultural Symposium where the members of the Davidson Garden Club rolled out the red carpet. It’s very fresh in my mind. And, oh my!
I was there as one of the guest speakers talking about the “Artful Vegetable Garden”—once again riding my hobby horse about how edible gardens don’t have to be utilitarian looking. I rubbed elbows with fellow speakers Allan Armitage, W. Gary Smith , William Welch and Pamela Baggett. The Davidson Garden Club members arranged for our transportation and accommodations, flowers in our rooms and for our lapels, escorts to make sure we didn’t get lost, fabulous dinners and lunches and one very special garden tour.
The garden surrounds the Italian Renaissance-style home of a private couple who have created a very approachable and walkable garden on acres of protected land in Davidson. A pathway circles the perimeter of the house and is planted with fabulous specimens that are evident even in the still-chilly weather of early March.
Careful attention to plant selection, artful creation of pathways to give long views of garden sculptures, creative use of elements for a rustic touch and even mossy paths, contributed unasked, courtesy of Mother Nature, made this a fabulous and memorable garden walk.
You can see more of the garden here.
I appreciate my new friends in Davidson and their fabulous Southern hospitality. Thank you!
Robin
Pardon me while I open the Department of Shameless Promotion. Did you know that Grocery Gardening is on not one…not two…but THREE Amazon best seller lists? The reviews (not all of them from my friends) have also been positive. (My mother is so proud!)
If you don’t yet have a copy of this book I wrote with my gardening friends Jean Ann Van Krevelen, Amanda Thomsen and Teresa O’Connor, here’s your chance to get one for FREE.
Leave me a comment to this post on or before Friday, March 5, and you’ll be entered into the drawing. When you leave your comment, please answer one of these questions:
- How, if at all, do you read other comments on blog posts? Do you read them before responding? Never read them? Something else?
- After commenting, do you subscribe to the follow-up comments on that post?
- Do you return to a blog post after commenting to see what other people have had to say?
Your responses will be most helpful in helping me to deal with the comments all the very kind people leave here at Bumblebee. I always read every comment and love them. I go through phases when I respond. Then I think “No one is looking at my responses” so I stop. But then I feel guilty and start responding again. So, help me out, okay? It’ll give me more time for grocery gardening!
Got Grocery Gardening?
UPDATE
Dawn at Owl Hollow News is the winner of the Grocery Gardening drawing. Congratulations, Dawn!
Robin
If you open my refrigerator door, you will see lots of fresh vegetables, skim milk, a large jar of yeast—and about 10 dozen eggs.
See, my 12 hens have not taken the winter season for a holiday. They keep laying and laying and laying.
The weekly menu on our refrigerator reads something like this: red pepper quiche, goat cheese and spinach soufflé, broccoli quiche. Dessert is crème brûlée.
Now, I am finally doing something about all these eggs besides just eating them!
I ordered 250 egg cartons—in a bright pink that, it turns out, somewhat resembles the rather lurid color of Pepto Bismol. I applied for and received my egg distributor certificate from the State of Maryland. This week I’ll check in with the county health department about local regulations.
All of this so I can give the eggs away!
I only have 12 laying hens (only!), so it isn’t practical to think I can sell them. My plan is to identify church and community groups that can take about four or five dozen eggs off my hands each week.
So, you see, my hens and I have a joint volunteer project!
So that’s what you do with too much of a good thing!
Robin
