Last week the fellow who came over to cart off all my decrepit gardening equipment for repairs was admiring my chickens. He was particularly taken with the Polish hens and their feathered headdresses.
“They’re beautiful! Do you cut their hair like that?” he asked.
I swear. He really asked me that.
Of course, that was last week when it was dry and the sun was shining. The chickens looked all primped out and gorgeous. Not like today, after days and days of rain, when their “hair” is dirty.
Now the poor Polish hens look a little worse for wear. They are in need of a little chicken hair styling. Or at the very least a shampoo and blow dry.
They’re having a very bad hair day.
Robin
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
