Twitter has a lot to answer for. How else would you get 25 people from around the country to visit a garden on a glorious sunny , early September afternoon.
Meeting before going to the garden it was clear that all was not quite as it might have been! In order that the 25 recognise each other we were invited to wear a button hole in the true spirit of a blind date. All was going swimmingly with assorted flora being sported until one of our number arrived wearing a half eaten digestive biscuit secured with a badly mis-shapen paperclip!
Perhaps I should explain that this gathering was no ordinary outing but a meeting of gardening enthusiasts of various persuasions found loitering with intent on Twitter and the garden we were to visit was Highgrove, the garden of HRH Prince Charles. The biscuit arrived courtesy of James Alexander-Sinclair which somehow saw the topic of conversation move on to cakes.
Now you would have thought that the often vociferous assembled group would be interested in the organic gardens filled with national plant collections especially as we had the pleasure of a carefully selected volunteer guide with three Chelsea Gold Medals to her name to guide us round. However it was quickly established that cakes would be available for purchase in the tea rooms at which point Barbara Taylor volunteered that she had baked cakes for everyone too! Now our interest was truly roused.
Two cakes for one garden visit!
My thanks go to Helen Johnstone for bringing this to life – it was great to see friends that in some cases have only been known online and to re-acquaint with others met at similar events previously.
It was a pleasure to meet Michelle Chapman, Roland and Jamie Paterson, Rob Stacewicz (who won the prize of some hand cream for his airplant buttonhole), Cleve West and Christine Eatwell, Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes, Zoe Lynch, Jenny Woods, Helen Reeley, Lia Leendertz, Sharon (Plantswoman), James Alexander-Sinclair, Simon and Sherrie Suter, Judith (aka Arabella Sock), Dawn Isaac, the shy and retiring Anne-Marie Powell, Kate Bradbury and her friend Abigail, Barbara Taylor and Deb Bird.
Gardens are a great way of enjoying a summer afternoon and the pleasure is multiplied when it is shared with so many with differing views but a shared passion – even if that appeared to be cake and biscuits.
Tags: blog · garden design · Garden Network · Garden Organic · gardening · networking · Plant · sunshine · sustainable · TwitterNo Comments
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form above.