Looking Back and Looking Ahead

First Bluebonnet of 2009

2009 was an interesting year for me, personally and in the garden. I spent much of the year looking for a paycheck and also trying to figure out where my future lay. For the first time ever though, I found more of my time focused on one of the real joys in my life - gardening.

Blogging and Writing
Wow, I did not anticipate, when I started blogging in the summer of 2008, that I would get so into it. Granted, I don't actually blog as much as I'd like to and I don't get to read as many blogs as I'd like to. But boy has it been fun. I attended the garden blogger's Spring Fling in Chicago, not really knowing what I would take away from it but knowing I'd see some great gardens. It was SO MUCH MORE than great gardens. Getting to meet some of the bloggers and really connect with some was such a highlight. Reading their blogs now is like chatting with a friend.

Cindy, Beth, and Pam at Chicago Botanic Garden

Over the year I picked up a few pass-around awards and then was surprised to see Blotanical subscribers award my blog Best Louisiana Blog. And then to find out that Horticulture picked my blog for one of their Top 20 garden blogs. Well it was almost too much.

I have been writing the newsletter for our farmers' market this past year. That effort combined with my blogging confirmed that I wanted to pursue more writing so I am happy to say that I have almost completed my first article for a garden magazine, scheduled to come out in June (I'll let you know about that when it happens).

Learning and Sharing
In 2009 I decided to pursue a Louisiana Master Gardener certification. In order to retain your certification you must contribute hours to other efforts, mostly ones that benefit the community. Our class decided to update a garden bed in a local park as a teaching tool on butterfly and bird gardening. Although it was a group effort, I designed the planting plan, learned how best to measure a garden bed from my friend Alexis, and learned how to stay patient when the fall rains wouldn't quit!

Kathy and Virginia busy planting the butterfly garden

I gave a talk at a local nursery about butterfly and bird gardening and plan to give another talk in March on perennials. I started a garden coaching business but it's growing VERY slowly.

I worked part time in a nursery, learning more about the plants that folks in this area prefer and hopefully sharing some of my knowledge of different plants with them.

I managed to visit several public gardens that were great (and some outstanding). Here's some links to posts I did about them: Wildwood Gardens in Little Rock, Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania here and here, Chicago Botanical Garden, and Briarwood Garden in north Louisiana. And here's some great private gardens I visited: Layanee's Ledge and Gardens in Rhode Island and Rick Bayless's garden in Chicago.

I also learned a lot more about photography through the Gardening Gone Wild photo challenges and hints from my photgrapher brother Brian.

The Gardening
Well, the gardening was frugal but fun. The successes? Finding some plants that are more native to the area.

Viburnum obovatum ‘Mrs Schiller’s Delight’

I also managed to plant and even grow some favorite plants from my past gardening experience (by travelling back to Texas to buy them!).

Malvaviscus drummondii, 'Turks Cap'

I was also finally able to attract some much wanted butterflies to the yard.

Monarch and Coneflower

The failures in the yard in 2009 include very few fall tomatoes, mis-labeled daylilies from the big box store, a rose that grew way out of its normal bounds and on to the driveway (The Fairy), and the inability to find any plants in this area in the fall that weren't pansies, snaps, or mums.

Although there's not much I can do about it, the rather strange weather was a bit much - first, no spring rains; then too much spring rain; then August temperatures and drought in June and July; then June-like weather in August and September; then 40 days and 40 nights of rain; then early freezes. Hmm.

Looking Ahead
Now what? What will 2010 bring? Well I hope it brings me more garden blogging friends, more opportunities to pursue my writing, more garden coaching clients, more learning opportunities, perhaps a steady paycheck, and a chance to grow into my full potential as a person.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Loving It - Chicago Botanic Garden

I first visited the Chicago Botanic Garden two years ago and I immediately fell in love with it. How can you not? It's a premier institution and there's something for everyone. Us Spring Flingers were treated so nicely by their staff. Click here for a photo of the bloggers who attended our tour.

Where to begin? I'm sure you'll see similar photos from other bloggers who attended CSF so I hope you don't mind. We just can't pass up a good photo-op! I think what captured my attention so much were their plant combinations. Here's a few.







The English Walled Garden is a favorite of mine and many others (perhaps Americans still craving the English style of gardening??). As you walk through it you get a peek of the poppy hillside, seen in the middle background here.



Then the hillside explodes in front of you. What a riot of color!



I couldn't resist a photo of some of the bloggers I walked with: Cindy of From My Corner of Katy, Beth of Growing in Chicago, and Pam of Digging.



There are multiple islands in the garden, including this small Japanese Island on the right.



On the island they train their trees into some beautiful shapes.



As you cross a zig-zag bridge you come across these spectacular irises.



There were many restful places to enjoy.





The allium has been dubbed the flower of the Chicago Spring Fling. I admit to having allium-envy.



Of course, none of this beauty is possible without hard working people. A big thank you to them!

Rick Bayless's Garden

One of the many delights of the Chicago Spring Fling was our visit to Rick and Deann Bayless's garden. I was thrilled when I heard we would visit it because I'm a big fan of their Chicago restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, and Rick's PBS program "Mexico, One Plate at a Time". Jeff and I had dinner at Frontera Grill the night before CSF started and as usual, we were not disappointed. Truly some of the best Mexican food in the U.S. comes out of their kitchen!



So it's no surprise that the focus of this garden is their vegetable/herb plot. It basically takes up the entire back of their row house. (Their backyard is comprised of three row house lots, with the other two lots containing a deck, a pond, the grill area, ornamental plantings, and a garage.) What an operation the vegetable garden is!



The Bayless's have a full time gardening consultant, Bill Shores, seen above explaining how he grows the micro-greens. He gave a really fascinating talk about how the garden is used for commercial purposes, supplying both restaurants with about $20,000 worth of produce a year. Can you imagine? The garden was still producing what we normally grow in the winter and early spring in the South (so I wasn't able to nab any epazote seeds as a friend down here wanted me to do!).



There are also numerous container plantings, many of which also house edible plants. Below are plantings of vining spinach with angelonia for a splash of color. And a fig tree in a pot.





And here's a lovely little deck for relaxing.



You Chicago area gardeners should check out the upcoming (June 14) 'Festival of the One True Taste', a series of events to benefit the Frontera Farmer Foundation. From their website: "The Frontera Farmer Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to promoting small, sustainable farms serving the Chicago area by providing them with capital development grants." One event is a sort of farmers market where local farmers offer their specialties at the restaurant. The other event is a six course dinner. Yum, I would be there if I could!

And thanks again to the CSF organizers!

A Big Thank You to Chicago Garden Bloggers

I had a heck of a good time at the Chicago Spring Fling. I saw some fabulous gardens and met some new friends. I'll be blogging about a few of the special places I went soon but before I do that, I want to be sure to thank all of the folks who worked so hard on CSF. Those Chicago garden bloggers worked really hard and I know that all of us really appreciated their efforts. Thank you big time!! (And I want to send another shout out to my dear husband who went along with me so patiently!)

For a taste of CSF, here's a collage I made. (It's my first time to make one and it didn't really turn out as expected. But hopefully you'll appreciate the teaser.)



And to my surprise, I had my FIRST TOMATO OF THE SEASON waiting for us when we got back. Here's my first Cherokee Purple.