Tuesday, July 29, 2014

From Pomarius to Bella Madrona, my photos from the Garden Bloggers Fling…

The fact I had already visited (and posted about) the gardens and nurseries on the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling (as well as being one of the organizers), kept my camera from getting a real workout that weekend. An exception to this however was our first night at Pomarius Nursery. I arrived early to help Heather get things ready (not that she needed it) and as I walked into the nursery such a wave of happiness and excitement washed over me…

Here we were, with a gorgeous blue sky and a most beautiful nursery opening its doors to us…a magical evening was ahead! In just minutes I was going to be reunited with old friends I hadn’t seen for a year or more, and meet new ones for the first time, the first time face to face at least.

If you’re near Portland and haven’t been to Pomarius Nursery what are you waiting for!? This place is simply magical. I couldn’t help but run around snapping photos of the gorgeous surroundings…

Going into the weekend the one blogging goal I had was to photograph as many of the people as I could. Usually on a garden tour your aim is to not get people in the photo, those pesky humans who detract from the beauty of the garden. But the people are the reason for this event! Here are fellow Portlander’s Kate and Ann.

Sadly that is the only people photo I took at Pomarius. I just got all wrapped in chatting and meeting and didn’t pick up my camera the rest of the night. If you want to see a couple fun time-lapse videos of the bloggers night at Pomarius visit their Facebook page.

Fortunately I was in slightly better form the next day, here we are at Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden, that's Peter (The Outlaw Gardener, on the left) and Alan (It's Not Work It's Gardening!, on the right). The couple with their backs to me were not part of our group.

And now at Cistus Nursery, that’s Mark (left) and Gaz (right) of Alternative Eden fame.

They’re listening to Gerhard (Succulents and More) and Denise (A Growing Obsession) talk about her plant discoveries.

Here we have the sassy (that’s a compliment) Mary Ann (Gardens of the Wild Wild West) checking her phone and the always charming Heather (Just a Girl with a Hammer).

Inside the nursery there's Cistus owner Sean Hogan chatting with Lisa (Descubriendo hojas/Discovering leaves) who came all the way from Spain!

What do you suppose Darcy (Bloomtown Gardens, on the left) and Cindy (From My Corner of Katy) are doing? Photographing plants of course!

Jane (Mulchmaid), Scott (Rhone Street Gardens) and Vanessa (Garden Chirps)...

Left to right...Vicki (Playin' Outside), Victoria (with her back to me, Tales from Awkward Hill), Amy (Get Busy Gardening), and Helen (Toronto Gardens).

From L.A. where she's the genius behind Potted, Annette.

Okay Toto we're not at Cistus anymore, we've jumped ahead to Old Germantown Gardens (the one garden I will be posting about, eventually) and here's Mary Ann again. See what I mean about sassy, those glasses say sass.

At the Ernst/Fuller Gardens here's Kylee (Our Little Acre)...

And the owners/gardeners at Rhone Street Gardens...Norm, Scott and Boots.

And here we are, the final stop on the Fling, Bella Madrona. Surely everyone recognizes the god-mother of the Fling, Pam (Digging)...

Too many to name, all enjoying tasty treats...

And this one! Caper, one of the adorable pair of pugs who call the garden of Sampson and Beasley home. Together with Olive (the black pug) they entertained us all. Here, after rooting around in my bag for a good long time, he finally found the cookie I'd stashed from my sack lunch earlier in the day (thanks to Heather for the photo). I thought about hiding both pugs in my bag when it was time to leave, you don't know how tempted I was...

Okay just two more shots. After the Fling wrapped up I got to spend a bonus day with Gerhard, Mark and Gaz. Of course we returned to Cistus for plant shopping! Silly me should have waited to take a photo after the wagon was full (because you know it was)...

Thanks for making the trip to Portland everyone, I hope to see all of you (and many others) in Toronto, Canada next year!

If you’re curious I posted more on Pomarius Nursery here (a visit from 2011) and Bella Madrona (The Garden of Sampson and Beasley) here. There are many many posts about my visits to Cistus, here's the most recent. All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

31 comments:

  1. I was on the train home when I first saw your pictures and was grinning from ear to ear then (must have got some curious stares from other passengers). Wow, brings back so many amazing memories! The fling was such good fun, and it happened so fast that it took us awhile to fully take in all that has happened. Since we got back we've had the time to look back and yes it was an amazing experience and so memorable. Up to now we're still talking about and will be so for a long time.

    You guys did a fantastic job! Seriously considering Toronto now especially after the wonderful experience there. And going back to Portland again soon of course!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay for that! Anything that makes people wonder what you're smiling (or laughing) about is a good thing. I know what you mean about still talking about it, I know I'm still having memories pop into my head and my dreams are filled with Fling thoughts.

      I am so glad I might get to see you next year in Toronto and back here in Portland!

      Delete
  2. You got some great pics of the group! Sadly, I think my camera got even less of a workout than yours did. I can believe you, Gerhardt , Mark and Gaz made a return trip to Cistus. It's worth one a day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear you say that (Cistus), I'm kind of thinking I need to go again soon...

      Delete
  3. What a great fling! Thanks for all of your hard work! I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for all of us out of towners. Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was definitely, just in a different way. Glad to have done it and glad to be a Flinger in the future rather than a planner...

      Delete
  4. Thank you Loree! It's so nice to put faces to so many names (and blogs)! It looks like everybody had a great time, hope I'll be able to attend one of the future flings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope you do John, I would love to meet you. Toronto is kinda sorta close! And rumor has it that there might be a movement to get one even closer to you. Do you know this blog?
      http://ts-casamariposa.blogspot.com/

      Delete
  5. Oh my goodness! what fun, what fun! I just love this post. How great to see everyone behind the blogs. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are so many people I didn't get a shot of! "Hoover" from Piece of Eden and Kathy just to name a couple. Glad you enjoyed and maybe, just maybe you'll think about Toronto?

      Delete
  6. Fun to see pictures of the people attending, especially with so many blogs that we all read but rarely see the people behind them.
    I meant to ask the gardener of one of the gardens everyone looked around, was it fun to see what people picked out, and talked about. Or was it too much rushing around to be able to listen in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honestly I can't remember much! There were many plant i.d. questions so that kept me busy, it went so fast. My husband was here though so I later heard things that he'd caught that I didn't...like the one lady who called Lila "the ugliest dog she'd ever seen"...he couldn't describe her though so I'm not sure who she was.

      Delete
    2. That is s rude. But don't worry we know exactly how you feel. People are often describing our dog as having a "nice personality" something that tends to mean, she is not a pretty dog.

      Delete
  7. This is a big help in my post-Fling mission: piecing together names, images & blogs of the many people I either met obliquely or had no chance to connect with at all. You got some great shots, and if those I do know are any indication, you even managed to give us a peek into the personalities behind the images.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Ricki there were so many others I didn't get (like you!) I really am not a good at documenting when distracted.

      Delete
  8. How fun for one that missed out , to see all the faces of the bloggers that I could have met ;(

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh,I love this! Hooray for faces and names.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ohh!! great pictures!!! I failed taking pictures of people...there were soooo many plants I was nervous thinking I wouldn´t have enough time for capturing them, hehehe. Thank you so much for the fling!!! I was very happy to meet you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand, that's usually me. Why take photos of people the plants are so much more interesting (no offense to my favorite people).

      Delete
  11. What a nice little roll call. thank you! I'll have weeks of exploring with all those blog links!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay for that! Always good to have a few online treats lined up for downtime.

      Delete
  12. Thank you for putting more faces, names and blogs together for me! It is fun to reflect back on the great time we had!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps future flings should have someone assigned to head-shots for a round up post?

      Delete
  13. AnonymousJuly 30, 2014

    I enjoyed seeing everyone, some new faces from last year, too! Maybe if something radically changes in my career and life, Toronto will be on my radar for 2015?

    For now, back to work, herding psycho cats who make it hard to even pay rent...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully that would be a good change?

      Delete
  14. Such a super fabulous Fling! We need an online directory to match our faces to our blogs. Ok, maybe just I need that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NO I think you're right, after all I know you don't look like that cutie in your avatar photo!

      Delete
  15. I can't believe you had time to take any pics at all, you were so buy running an amazing Fling! And surely Andrew misunderstood the person saying that was an ugly dog (perhaps one they'd run across earliier?) because Lila is freakin' ADORABLE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well we think so but of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The mysterious commenter went on to realize that she made that remark right by the dog's owner and even acknowledged so by smiling and saying to Andrew "I suppose your it's owner right?"...lord know's I've said things that I later realized I hadn't said out loud!

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Comment moderation is on (because you know: spam), I will approve and post your comment as soon as possible!