Garden2Blog 2013, Learning and Growing

I had the opportunity to meet with 20 wonderful garden bloggers from across the nation at Garden2Blog 2013. This event is in its third year and, to my understanding, 2013's edition was the best yet. Our tour guide and host was P. Allen Smith, from Garden Home television and radio. A large part of our days were spent at his Moss Mountain Farm. There were many opportunities to truly meet the other bloggers, our hosts, and their sponsors.



We were treated to wonderful demonstrations, educational sessions, and garden tours over a day and a half. It was a really exciting experience focused around gardening, preservation, and people. Our three garden tours demonstrated the design principles that Allen mentions in all design discussions. The gardens ranged from that of a small home cottage, to a large flowing farmstead.

Arkansas Governor’s Mansion
Completed in 1950, the mansion appears simple and clean in the Georgian Colonial style. A tornado ran through the backyard some years ago which provided an opportunity for new construction projects and landscaping. The 8 acres of property have majestic Southern magnolias, a showy Fringe tree, a cut rose garden, herb garden, formal garden and a large vegetable garden. Local Master Gardeners maintain the vegetable garden, and the National Herb Society maintains the herb garden. The first lady of Arkansas, Ginger Beebe, works with a main gardener who coordinates all of the volunteers and help.


Cottage Home
We made a quick stop at Allen’s Gaines Street city home. The yard is an incredible grouping of mini garden 'rooms'. Each area divided by a combination of greenery and structures that made each area a finished piece unto itself. Containers finished off all of the areas.

This was the most representative of a typical home on the tour. A small house, with a small yard in a residential location with plants that pull the double-duties of visual separation and texture.



Moss Mountain Farm
This 650-acre farm is the epitome of attention to detail. They use natural, local materials whenever possible. The entire property is visually arranged such that the rooms in the house visually flow into the gardens, blurring the lines between inside and out. Each of the gardens follow the principles of design making the terrace gardens, orchard, vegetable garden, and rosegarden splendid places for education and entertainment.



Interested in the other bloggers who attended? Check out their blogs below. There are many good stories and loads of good information.

1. P. Allen Smith of www.pallensmith.com
2. Steve Asbell of The Rainforest Garden
3. Carolyn Binder of Cowlick Cottage Farm
4. Teresa Byington of The Garden Diary
5. Mallory Colliflower with HGTV Gardens
6. Lynn Coulter of The Home Depot Garden Club’s The Good Seed column
7. Rhonda Fleming Hayes of The Garden Buzz
8. Amy James of Our Everyday Dinners
9. Diane LaSauce of  Home Garden Life
10. Laura Mathews of Punk Rock Gardens
11. Kerry Michaels with About.com
12. Mary Ann Newcomer with Gardens of the Wild Wild West
13. Teresa O’Connor of Seasonal Wisdom
14. Jenny Peterson of J. Peterson Garden Design
15. Kenny Point of Veggie Gardening Tips
16. Carri Stokes of Read Between the Limes
17. Chris Tidrick of From the Soil
18. Chris VanCleave of Redneck Rosarian
19. Robin Ripley Wedewer with Bumblebee
20. Barbara Wise of bwisegardening

Disclosure:
In May 2013, I was invited to attend the Garden2Blog Event by P. Allen Smith and Associates/Hortus, Ltd. They provided my lodging and meals. Any opinions expressed on this blog are my own. I was not asked to blog, tweet, or post on Facebook about any of it.