Blogging and Flinging

Why blog? Why Fling? Eleven years ago I could answer the first question. I just started this blog and it was going to be a garden journal of sorts. The frequency of my posting waxed and waned, depending on what was going on in my life. I wanted to keep track of what was going on in my garden when we lived in Virginia. Once we moved to South Carolina I had a new property, new garden, MORE gardens to fill, more journal material to record.

Photo from my first post

Blogging is a two-way street for many of us. You write your post and hope someone reads it and comments. You in turn read others' posts and let them know by commenting on their post. Many used pseudonyms for themselves and any family members mentioned in the blog. As we got to know each other our true names were used. The more blogs you read the more bloggers you  got to know, sort of an electronic pen-pal.

Chris Mello's Garden, Asheville, NC

Chris Mello's Garden Asheville, NC

Flinging takes the blogging to a new level. The full name was Garden Blogger Spring Fling, we have since dropped 'Spring'. Each year a few bloggers host a Fling in their area, plan visits to public and private gardens, host/cater a dinner, and arrange bus transportation and a hotel, and invite garden bloggers from all around the world to attend. My first Fling was in Asheville, NC. Knowing certain bloggers were attending, you looked for friends who you haven't met yet. Their blog names might be the only name you know. I remember overhearing one of the bloggers ask another, "Who is the Queen of Seaford? Is she here?" Strangers in person, pen-pals online and now friends. This coming Fling will be my ninth one.

Keeyla Meadow's Garden San Francisco 

Viewing the gardens is always fun. You might see familiar plant material or you might see completely foreign plants. You can appreciate color and design. You might want to try something you have seen- will it work in your horticultural zone? Broaden your horizons.
Timing for the Flings varied -different climates and different seasons, you don't want to tour Texas in July and Toronto in May might be a tad chilly. The Flings are during the growing season best suited for each location.

Outside the hotel in Toronto

Here's where the coming back again and again makes for friendship bonds that last over the years, getting stronger with each gathering. Whether you read each others' blogs or Facebook posts or Instagram pages, each Fling you get to know each other better and better.

Maya (from California) and Beth ( host for this coming year's Fling in Madison, WI)

Bus rides are great for getting to know each other

First time Flingers have a  newbie designation on their name tag. We who are not first timers search out newbies to say hello, make them welcome, and make life long friends. Each year we in the Carolinas/Georgia try to get a group photo. Texas bloggers seem to have the largest number of attendees. There are some very charming ladies from Great Britain who have been numerous times. Friends from across the pond! Canada is well represented each year. Photo below - two Canadians, one Brit, one Northerner and a couple of Southerners (one behind the camera).

Breakfast before we fly out Monday morning

NC/SC/Georgia group

Evening gathering grows, adding table after table

Whether you go home with plans for your garden or memories of great gardens with killer views, the Fling is always a good time. We have been rained on, more than once, endured some really hot afternoons, and love every memory made.

Denver Fling- see the mountains in the distance?

More than one of us talked about trying to make our own rock garden

I will end this post with a photo of one of my favorite gardens (minus the mosquitoes) outside of Denver. Interested in joining the group and coming to a Fling? If you write a garden blog you have met one of the requirements. The rest of the guidelines can be found here. Lots more info about this year's Fling in Madison can be found at http://gardenbloggersfling.blogspot.com/p/2020-madison.html I know I shared many of these thoughts in a post earlier this year, but it certainly bears repeating. Registration for Madison is now open, time to sign up!

Both the hosts have lined up a wonderful weekend for us. Come and join us!

©Copyright 2020 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Fling Experience - Toronto Style

I have been asked many times about the Garden Blogger Flings that I attend. In a nutshell a Fling is where the hosting Garden Bloggers find wonderful gardens, public and private, to show off their city/region. It involves a lot of work, coordinating times, schedules, buses, locations, food, and 80+ Garden Bloggers. 
Those of us who attend these Flings take away so much more than garden design, plants, and landscaping. Imagine an annual pilgrimage to get reacquainted with many of your fellow gardeners. Friendships are formed, nurtured, and bloom. (like the gardening metaphor?)
First we check into a grand intown hotel. This year's hotel was quite grand indeed. We stayed at the Fairmont Royal York. A brief history of the hotel can be found here.

My fellow traveling companions were game to explore the city upon arrival. 

Julie, Marian, Helen, Karin, and Julie

It is nice to get a lay of the land before we start our whirlwind of activities. Toronto a city on Lake Ontario, is the provincial capital of Ontario.

From just about everywhere the CN tower is in view.

Since the Toronto Music Garden wasn't on our list of many gardens we checked it out. Certainly worth a look if you visit Toronto.

Once the Fling was underway it was time to catch up with fellow bloggers from near and far.  The camaraderie is wonderful. Each year I look forward more and more to seeing my friends from Texas, and England and Wisconsin and Minnesota and Ohio and California and and and..... you get the idea. It is a giant talkfest.

We document our gathering with regional blogger photos. Seeing a city through the eyes of someone who lives there is special....but so is getting to know fellow bloggers. Toronto has great vistas...many include the CN tower.

Julie, Lisa, me, Marian, Karin and Julie

 Traveling with so many gardeners lends itself to many garden views, each gardener sees something different. When we get home and share posts and photos of the Fling there will be something in a photo that one of us has missed. Eighty gardeners can see a garden and come out with 80 different views. A few will take photos of this dragon.

Dragon sculpture on Wards Island

 Some views will be shared multiple times...who could resist this kind of photo opportunity?

View from Algonquin Island

 Meal gatherings tend to grow as another blogger joins the group and then another. By the time this meal was done our table looked like a Hungry Hungry Caterpillar table...adding more and more round tables together. Luckily our waiter was nonplused by our ever growing group.

Photo angles can be all important, one learns from the best on how to achieve that best shot.

Janet and Barbara

 There were questions from passersby on the street as to who this group might be. What? Doesn't your neighborhood have dozens and dozens of folks with cameras taking pictures? Many people wanted to know about blogging, asked for information about our blogs so they could read about what we have seen in their city.  This dog didn't ask.

We saw more than gardens. Those who like architecture would have loved seeing Cabbagetown, a section of Toronto that was once home to many Irish immigrants. It is known as the largest continuous area of Victorian homes in North America. 

There was a nice dose of history in our tour of Toronto. The Evergreen Brick works is a reclaimed brick factory and quarry. The wall art depicts the waterways through Toronto that feed into Lake Ontario. The quarry was site to archeological findings of a second Ice Age. 

Brick Press

Remaining ductwork in the furnaces

Seeing so many aspects of this city was really amazing. Big thanks to our planners, Helen Battersby, Sarah Battersby, Lorraine Flanigan and Veronica Sliva. We made new friends, saw incredible gardens, learned a bit about Toronto, rode the ferry, and chatted with all sorts of Torontonians.

Dog parking station at Evergreen Brick Works

 Did I mention the fun bloggers? Each Fling is a unique blend of garden bloggers. Wish we had time to get to know each and every one of these fun gardeners. Once home I realized there were some folks I didn't get a chance to spend time with. Guess I will have to find them next year in Minneapolis.

Maya and Beth

 Flings have been like a big family reunion, a family of friends, a family of gardeners. These are the people you feel comfortable with, you can laugh and be silly with, THESE are the people you take selfies with...in pink sunglasses.

Judy, me, Tammy, Karin, Brandon, and Julie

 Flings are times you get to check off a bucket list item - Niagara Falls

And did I mention all those wonderful fellow bloggers? Miss you all and looking forward to next year!

©Copyright 2015 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

The Joys of Blogging

Garden blogging has been such a great pastime for me since .....December 7th, 2008!  Time sure flies. Thought I would get my post done for this yesterday...but I had no idea what the 'date' was...or rather hadn't paid too much attention to it.  Oops.  So happy belated Blogiversary to me!  Five years have gone by quickly.  I have been enjoying being a part of the garden blogging community.

Some of the garden blogging community got together this past Friday to celebrate South Carolina's Arbor Day.  This was the third year I have gone to USC Upstate to listen to the speaker, the first time was Dr. Michael Dirr, second year Traci DiSaboto-Aust, and this year was Dr. Alan Armitage.

The treat was meeting fellow bloggers at the speaker program.  Last year I met with Julie Thompson-Adolf - Growing Days and this year not only Julie but Daricia McKnight - A Charlotte Garden and Karin Hicks - Southern Meadows came to the Arbor Day presentation.   Julie, Daricia and I have met before at the past two Flings but we hadn't met Karin in person before this past Friday.   It was a lot of fun, such nice ladies!  We talked about past and future Flings...Portland is next... can't wait; about blogging and the technical side of the blogs...like adding alt text to our photos; and of course we talked about plants.   We also made plans to meet again soon.

Our Garden Blogger Flings have been a lot of fun, seeing gardening- large and small, hearing representatives talk about new plants and of course getting to know bloggers from near and far.  After the Asheville Fling many of us received some plants from Southern Living to trial in our gardens.  You might remember my Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress' and it getting eaten by deer.  Sad -- I really like the yellow blooms during the winter.   Southern Living sent more plants this year.  I received two more Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress', a Loropetalum 'Purple Pixie' and a Carex oshimensis 'Everillo'.

All packaged -- arriving in great condition.  Now where to plant my new goodies?   Before planting, I kept them in my holding area.   Loving that bold yellow foliage on the Carex.  The yellow blooms on the Mahonia and the yellow foliage are super... quite the complement to the purple leaves of the Loropetalum.

Before planting  I sprayed my newbies with some Bobbex, a deer repellent.  This one is supposed to be 'rainproof'.  I will spray them again once the rain quits for a few days.  

 Here is what those poor babies look like from last year--- still might come back, still crossing my fingers.  They have been sprayed, marked with sticks, protected with some leaves or a log to keep dogs and people from walking on them.

 
This one is a lot smaller...but I have faith that it will come back...as long as I have deer-proof spray on it.

In a location up the hillside from the other Mahonia, the new ones are planted.  

The Carex is planted along the edge of the pathway through the garden.  A nice bright bit of foliage in the shady garden.

The Loropetalum needs more sunlight, so it is planted in the front garden...next to two other 'Purple Pixie' plants.  

Since planting these new plants we have had some cold weather, not as harsh as some parts of the country, but cold nonetheless.   Checking on the M. 'Soft Caress'  I see they have experienced some cold damage

The frost-bitten leaves have fallen off and those leaves/branches that were covered with leaves are fine.  I have heaped more leaves over the remaining plants to continue protecting them from further cold weather.  The Carex and Loropetalum survived the 20 degree temperatures just fine.  Will check on the plants all through the winter and give updates.

Earlier this fall I had the pleasure of participating in a podcast with John Markowski from An Obsessive Neurotic Gardener who interviewed me, Julie, and Mia - Modern Mia Gardening.  If you have about 45 minutes, give it a listen.  John has five podcasts done now and you can find them in the sidebar on his blog.  He is a fun interviewer.  If you like the podcasts, offer yourself as the next interviewee.  

As I said, garden blogging is a lot of fun and you meet some nice people.  

©Copyright 2013 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.