Saturday morning – early – was a special treat for members of the Garden Writers Association. It is our time to get into the show before it opens and take a really good look at the gardens. We were divided into a couple of groups and taken on a tour.

Now, of course when I take pictures, it is for me, little things I notice, or maybe want to have in my own garden…so these are snippets of what I saw that impressed me. Each and every one who takes pictures will see something else…I hope you enjoy them. It’s not always about plants, it could be wood or stone that strikes my fancy…or placements, or containers I like, or a particular colour…and even a plant or its colour or shape. For instance, I absolutely loved that light that is in front of the red tulips and I thought using copper piping was a novel way of building a rail. They also used it coiled in with container plantings along with bark for added texture.

They also had floral displays, chairs planted up…I do like this combination and if done up right, can really be a wonderful addition to your front door or in the garden for a bit of whimsy. There were miniatures too…see the tiny wardian case and then see the picture with the finger at the bottom…I did this to show you how tiny this plant was in relation to what is planted in that case. Of course it took first…it was an exquisite planting of material. The picture with the yellow background is a tiny little miniature arrangement as well.

There was a lot to see and I am sorry I could not get to more of it…you will just have to come see for yourself!

The Garden Writers had our official meeting and lunch this day as well…a wonderful lunch sponsored by Premier Technologies and then afterwards we saw some of the new plant introductions offered by Janet Anderson Perennials. I have included a few pictures of our luncheon.

I used the rest of the afternoon to go through the booths again, in case there was something I had missed, met with a few more people then headed back to the comfort of my hotel room for a nice quiet evening.