Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Garden Fever .... An Agreeable Condition

In a reflective mood since receiving the award yesterday on Blotanical,
for Best California Blog.
Although a few have been deleted, 
the tally shows 130 features on Bay Area Tendrils since January 13th, 2009.
One problem is not yet solved: 
I've yet to convert my library of thousands of slides from garden visits.
 Only a very few have been scanned, like a vignette from
I can never convey the sensory euphoria of fragrance and texture, the light and atmosphere
experienced while alone in the White Garden; totally immersed in its beauty. 


One of my first features included a scanned photograph of the doyen of English gardening shortly before his death: Christopher Lloyd, unphased by the rain, leads us from one garden room to the next on a tour of Great Dixter.
When I registered on Blotanical, I listed Great Dixter as the garden I wished most to see, 
and that I had, in fact seen it.
Actually, not true. 
Garden Fever is an agreeable condition, but forceful in its way. 
There are innumerable gardens I hope to visit, despite fond memories of 
Great Dixter's perfect presentation of Arts & Crafts structure with contemporary panache.

A garden writer can't go wrong when featuring a major historic site of exquisite resonance:
However...
when Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel
 features a stunning Modernist landscape, 
such as the expansive
 in Paris, the response is generally less enthusiastic.
I love every type of garden, perhaps in equal measure.
I'll have to think about it, but this may be the case.

Events such as The Late Show Gardens
.... inaugurated this September in California Wine Country, 
give me reason to ponder and write about important issues such as climate change,
while soaking up ideas, innovative designs, 
and the opportunity to peruse the best of the best new plants.

The photo above - a detail - is from opening day of The Late Show Gardens,
the day after I first photographed 
during the Preview Party. 
Roasting temperatures in Sonoma caused the wall of ice to melt rapidly.

Today in my garden, Scrophularia 'Lemon and Lime' ...
I'm a plant geek, what can I say.
- Congrats to all the Blotanical finalists and winners -

It's a great group, good wishes to my California cohorts!
Town Mouse and Country Mouse
Daffodil Planter
Tulips in the Woods
Cindees Garden

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Blotanical Awards ... Good News!

.... Awards ....
Photo: San Francisco Tiled Steps 
Super News!
While I've been scouting interesting settings in my home town, Chicago,
it has just come to my attention that
Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel has been nominated
for a number of awards on Blotanical - the go-to web site
and gathering place for countless garden geeks, landscape designers, plant lovers,
and garden travelers, too,
be they partaking of a virtual feast of gardens in their own backyards,
or slipping on their walking shoes to trek through great gardens further afield.
Thank you, Stuart Robinson, the Australian gardening mate who thought up the idea for Blotanical. Stuart keeps its wheels turning... even as the number of blogging green, brown, and variegated thumbs grows greater with each passing day.
 
Here are the categories where you'll find Bay Area Tendrils nominated:
Best Blog Design
Best Garden Art
Best California Blog
and a unique niche: Blog You'd Most Like An Invite From to Guest Post
Thanks, all! I must sign off now.....