I am squeezed around a picnic table with strangers — a woman from Sweden, another from Australia, and a pair from Italy. Communication should have been a challenge, except we shared varying deg...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-amazing-chelsea-flower-show.html
After a few days in Amsterdam trying not to trip over any one of the 600,000 bicycles lying around, or fall into a canal; the latter potentially precipitated by the former, I went in search of tu...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2012/07/after-few-days-in-amsterdam-trying-not.html
This summer I again made my way down to Whistling Gardens, Canada’s newest botanical garden. Located just south of Brantford, it’s the creation of former outdoor education teacher and tree pr...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2015/12/whistling-gardens.html
The plan was to escape the snow for once, except this was the winter without any. Regardless, it didn’t discourage me from taking a trip south in February to do a little hiking around the red r...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2012/03/arizona-desert-botanical-garden.html
I lost my hat in the South China Sea. It wasn’t the gentle, cooling breeze tempering the hot midday sun that whipped it away. It was the speed of the power boat I was riding in as it shuttled p...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2024/02/malaysian-borneo.html
After one of the coolest summers on record accompanied by too many complaints about plants not blooming and tomatoes not ripening due to a lack of sunshine, I thought, forget it, I’m taking off...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2011/04/malaysian-borneo.html
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https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2023/12/stratford-festival-theatre.html
Well it wasn’t an act of desperation, but driving ten hours to see living plants might appear that way. It all began with a suggestion by Rodger Tschanz, who many know as the fellow who runs th...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2014/11/longwood-gardens.html
It was a single red poppy in a field of wheat beside a busy parking lot that caught my attention. The solitary flower had a calming affect on me after having just spent too short a time whirling ...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2011/07/monets-giverny.html
My tree peony had a huge bud on it at the beginning of June but I never saw it bloom. In fact, I missed a lot of things happening in my garden during the first couple of weeks of the month. I did...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2011/04/homeward-bound.html
They came with their bags and boxes, wagons and wheelies, all prepared to haul home the perfect plant, piece of statuary or garden accessory. This was the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, three days...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-harrogate-flower-show.html
It’s bad enough it’s barely rained in half a year or more, then so hot this month that mulch has become a fire hazard. And where was I when my garden was frying last week? Not huddled over an...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2012/08/butchart-gardens-bc-canada.html
Drive thirteen hours just to look at a garden? Are you crazy? Some might think so, but not serious plant and garden lovers. Sooner or later they all add this one to their list of gardens to visit...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2016/07/reford-gardens-les-jardins-de-metis.html
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https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2023/06/hampton-court-flower-show.html
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https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2023/06/visit-royal-botanical-gardens.html
Look, there are the newlyweds, Rupert Murdock and Jerry Hall, checking out the David Austin rose display! Wait, is that Piers Morgan? No, Peirs, you can’t take a selfie with me; I’m much more...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2016/10/chelsea-flower-show-2016.html
In 2012, I took a short trip to see family in the UK. While there, as always, I try to visit a garden or two. Many of the most popular and visited gardens in Britain are on the tourist route in t...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2018/02/scampston-and-wentworth.html
On a cold January day, I find myself reminiscing about a garden I visited, where for a while I stepped back into the nineteenth century. It began when I came upon Victorian croquet players dresse...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2016/02/brodsworth-hall-south-yorkshire-uk.html
I finally had the opportunity to attend the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show back in July. I’ve been to the Chelsea Flower Show a number of times with groups, but never Hampton, so this time I ...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2014/12/hampton-court-flower-show.html
I was in Quebec City for a few days this summer attending the annual Garden Writers Association Symposium. I met a lot of people, attended a number of presentations, and was introduced to ne...
It's all about timing. My trip to the Chelsea Flower Show and gardens in the UK this year occurred after that country experienced the coldest spring in fifty years, and yet rhododendrons and azal...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2013/10/its-all-about-timing.html
In northeast England, there’s an interesting new garden. New that is, compared to most UK gardens on the tourist route there. Gardens dating back to Victorian times are the norm, others centuri...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2011/12/alnwick-castle.html
There are three major reasons that local people travel to Buffalo: Sabres games, airport, or cross border shopping. I just discovered an even bigger reason to make the trip — Garden Walk Buffal...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2011/11/garden-walk-buffalo.html
It may seem like a long way to go to look at plants, but with only a few adventurous crocuses attempting to lead reluctant participants in a spring parade, the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden near Pat...
https://gardengripe.blogspot.com/2011/04/it-may-seem-like-long-way-to-go-to-look.html