Green tuteurs at the Garden Home Retreat of P. Allen Smith taken in 2011

I travel to other gardens every time I get the chance, and there’s a method to my madness. At the first Garden2Blog, I came back with the inspiration to paint one of the arbors. Last spring, I noted Allen’s tuteurs in the borders were a lovely, soft green so this year, when faced with my tired and rusty arbor, I grabbed the spray paint and did something similar, yet different. Different garden structure, different plants, but still inspired by Moss Mountain Farm.

My green arbor inspired by Allen's arbor's at Moss Mountain Farm. Clematis Huvi is climbing it on one side, and Wisteria frutescens is on the other side where I lost Rosa 'Cecile Bruner.'

This year, I was wowed by Allen’s rose garden, and I hope to see it when the allee of  trees matures. It won’t be long before it is fully established, and it is already beautiful due to its great bone structure. I was also inspired by how Allen and his staff designed the long borders differently this year, and how they used Proven Winners® plants. On the second day of the trip, we played several games, and many bloggers won prizes, some very cool ones from Bonnie Plants and Proven Winners®. I’m one of the Garden Gurus for Proven Winners®, so it was fun to see how my favorite plants were utilized differently than I do at home. I don’t work for Bonnie Plants, but I do plant many of their vegetables and herbs, including, for the first time this year, ‘Cubanelle’ pepper. I like how Bonnie uses a compostable pot instead of plastic. I wish more companies would.  For those who wish to compost their plastic pots and keep them out of our landfills, Lowe’s has a recycling program, as does our local TLC Nursery. I bet if you took your pots back to Steve and Ruth at Bustani, they would take them too, but I digress.

One of the beds planted with perennials and annuals some of which are Proven Winners® plants.

One of the more creative things we did at Garden2Blog12 was a Proven Winners® scavenger hunt for prizes. Bloggers seemed to really enjoy this in spite of the early heat wave which made everyone melt.

Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum, along with purple fountain grass in the rose garden. There's also a Pink Drift® rose behind the petunias on the right.

As we were all running around trying to get the answers, I stood back for a moment and took pictures of the long garden beds. They were scrumptious, and I noticed they used a lot of my favorite Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum petunias. Allen must like that plant a lot because it was everywhere including in the rose garden and containers throughout the garden. It is such a Barbie pink color, but the best part is its charming ability to reach out and grow through other plants without choking them. I grow a lot of petunias, but it’s still my fave.

Before I go, I just wanted to show you a pic of some of Allen’s chickens.

Some of Allen's heritage chickens.

This is a heritage breed he is trying to save, and as a fellow chicken nut, I’m glad he now has the room to further his passion for poultry including duck, geese, turkeys and chickens. My friend, Susan Cohan, has written a much more eloquent post on her visit than mine. Susan always sees things so architecturally, and that’s one of the things I love about blogging. We can all go there, but each of us sees things in our own fashion. Susan noticed how Allen and his staff work to keep the farm running. They have many sponsors, and I’m told Allen puts on a microphone right after breakfast. His film crew follows him about the farm all day. So, the entire time we were there, we were trailed by the film crew. What did I take away from this year’s Garden2Blog? Well, for one, I work very hard too, but I can’t work as hard as Allen. I still have two kids at home, and Bill would kill me. Second, I learned a lot about how the film crew works and how naturally they do videos. Something to remember when I do videos for Lowe’s and Proven Winners® and perhaps, Fiskars.

Lois Chaplin from Bonnie Plants talking about their new QR codes on their plant labels. One of Allen's film crew is at left.

One more thing . . . next week is the Garden Bloggers Fling in Asheville. Can I get an “Oh yeah!?!” I’m so excited to see all my rowdy friends again. I almost can’t wait. Head over to the Asheville blog to see the lineup. Wonderful friends, gardens, food and photos. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Note: As with all of those who attended Garden2Blog 2012, I received transportation, accommodations and meals during the event. I did come one day early and pay for my own hotel room. Event sponsors, like Bonnie Plants and Proven Winners® provided information, samples and product giveaways at no cost or obligation. Also, as I said above, I write for Lowe’s, Proven Winners® Plants and Fiskars. Fiskars provided tools for the event, but Lowe’s was not part of the trip sponsorship. 

UPDATE: Here are some other posts about the event from my rowdy friends:

 P Allen Smith Blog

Genevieve Schmidt, North Coast Gardening

Carolyn Binder, Cowlick Cottage Farm

Christopher Tidrick, From the Soil

Amanda Thomsen, Kiss My Aster

Shawna Coronado, The Casual Gardener

Kylee Baumle, Our Little Acre

Linda, Garden Girl

Brenda Haas, BG Garden

Bonnie Plants

Conard-Pyle

Susan Cohan, Susan Cohan Gardens/Miss Rumphius’ Rules

Proven Winners