The New Perennialist: A Moment in the Sun

Two weeks back, I met up with 70 of my peers coming to Toronto from all over North America for the annual Garden Bloggers Fling.

It’s a gathering of the tribe to meet up in a different host city each year, visit gardens, talk plants, eat some great food, and get amazing swag bags from the sponsors.

Up till now, I’ve been a bit of a lone wolf in the world of bloggers. Out there broadcasting on my own frequency.

So this was new territory for me. But it turned out to be great to cross paths with others of my ilk, see my hometown through a visitor’s eyes, and make some new garden/writer friends and connections along the way.

The next week by pure coincidence, I was stunned to learn that The New Perennialist had received a 2015 Garden Writers Association Silver Award of Achievement for ‘Best Overall Blog’. It’s also eligible to win Gold at the 67th GWA Annual Symposium in Pasadena, California this September.

Wow. So not expecting that.

Now that the news has sunk, I’m honoured to be named in such fine company by the GWA, the group that sets the bar for garden writing in the U.S. and Canada.

In my case, I like that this award recognizes all the elements of a blog: the writing, photography, design, and interactivity.

For that, it’s a prime opportunity to thank friend and graphic designer, David Thorne who helped to come up with the original look and feel, as well as programmer Valerio Gallippi for his elegant coding.

David came up with the brilliantly simple device of the initial P at the top of the page, which changes seasons every time a new page is loaded.

Top of the list, I must thank Piet Oudolf whose work sparked my interest in planting design in the first place. And then again, for his personal words of encouragement along the way.

Origin of the species

Three years ago, I had zero interest in writing a garden blog. Despite my passion for the subject, I was convinced there were too many already out there, no one will ever read it, etc.

That all changed when I took the first edition of an online course called ‘Planting Design with Perennials’ at MyGardenSchool taught by British author Nöel Kingsbury, whose work with Piet Oudolf I greatly admire.

Nöel is the über plant nerd with a marvellous accent for talking design. Each week, you watched him by video lesson after which he assigned homework. I threw myself into each project with passionate intensity.

Nöel gave thoughtful feedback on my projects, at one point suggesting that as as writer by trade, I should think about doing a blog. It may have just been a passing thought but coming from him, it stuck.

That same course inspired me to travel to Europe the following summer to participate in a planting design workshop with Nöel and Piet at Hummelo and join up for a northern dutch garden tour.

The succession of events convinced me to start this blog and I felt there was a story to tell. I was more than okay with the fact that no one would ever read it. 

Thanks to all the subscribers, readers, and commenters, from all over the planet who have since proven me wrong.

Gardens are about People

I learned early on that planting design is not simply about plants. It’s about people. 

That point becomes abundantly clear in Noel and Piet’s excellent new book, ‘Oudolf: Hummelo’, which traces the whole rise of the New Perennial movement back to its roots in Northern Europe.

First off, it’s a love story about Piet and his partner/wife Anja who set off to create a nursery, show garden, and a life for themselves in the dutch countryside.

It’s also the story of three extraordinary friends and iconoclasts, the late Henk Gerritsen, philosopher Rob Leopold, and Piet Oudolf – whose intense late-night conversations in the 1980s about what a garden could be lit the stage for everything to come.

I loved the book. It fills in the gaps from the inside point of view, and adroitly places the movement in a greater historical context.

Fling. Now flung.

Back in TO, the Bloggers’ Fling was rich with horticultural and human insight.

First of all, I learned that the great majority of garden bloggers appear to have been born without a penis.

Fortunately, they also tend to have a terrific sense of humour. 

Kidding aside, I do seriously wonder why so many men are garden-adverse – unless it involves power tools, herbicide, BBQs, or lawn tractors.

Amongst the many garden visits and discussions, I was particularly struck by two people I met on the Fling.

The first is Margaret Bennet-Alder, tireless blogger and writer behind the Toronto Gardener’s Journal & Source Book. Her interest in garden writing is the result of caring for her son David, afflicted with schizophrenia. 

Margaret proves that gardening and writing about it is a lifetime endeavour as she’s still going strong at 83 years old.

The second is a gentleman named David I met on Toronto Island at the shambolic garden of guerilla plantsman Grahame Beakhust. Although bound in a wheelchair, David had a sense of radiance and joy about him that was completely disarming.

After he left, Grahame explained that David been diagnosed with ALS five years previously. Somehow like a Stephen Hawking, he was able to keep some basic motor functions and the ability to speak. 

He told me that David is still very much active as a gardener. While he can’t walk, he can still get down on his knees to work in the soil with his hands.

Now that is passion.

Later that same day, I got caught in a torrential downpour on the island. I got so soaked that my feet were swimming in their shoes. I walked through the rain getting wetter and wetter, and all I could do was shiver and smile.