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The Field Trip: A Perennial Summer Adventure

A friend once told me over a beer and frog legs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Travel is not about the places – it’s about the people you meet.

So true.

Now home after several whirlwind weeks on the road, I’m taking a breather to retrace my steps.

It all started with a visit to Baltimore, Maryland in late July for my first annual Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Symposium.

Next, my partner Troy and I buckled up for a 10-day road trip to Québec driving out along the silver-laced shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway to visit a pair of much revered gardens: Les Jardins de Métis and Les Quatre Vents.

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On the Roadside: A Great North American Field Trip

I’m packing my bags, setting the water-timer on my perennial holding bed, updating my passport, and getting the oil checked on my trusty yellow Subaru.

There’s travel in the works.

Next week, I set off for my first Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland – said to be a mega-flock of plant nerds. Shortly upon my return, I’m heading east to Québec on a pilgrimage to visit the much fabled Les Quatre Vents gardens in Charlevoix.

I plan to see a lot of roadside on the way. All the better to see the wildflowers of the moment… and maybe even some spaceships like the one pictured above.

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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 grab some amazing swag.

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.

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Shady Chic: A Montréal Rendezvous

Montréal! Ooh la la. Cultured, sophisticated, and yes, a little bit seedy. With a history of bootlegging, speakeasies, jazz clubs, hockey dynasties, and organized crime.

But also seedy in a good way as the home to the Montréal Botanical Garden.

Truth be told, Le Jardin Botanique Montréal is my horticultural mistress par excellence.

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Hermannshof: The German Genius for Goals and Gardens

Yes, they did it again. In early July, under the blinding stadium lights in Rio, Germany conquered Argentina with a soaring pass and mid-air kick to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The German team was so strong, the win seemed almost inevitable.

On a whirlwind visit to Germany last summer, I discovered they also make seriously innovative public gardens – and much like football, their greatness is no accident.

Each is the result of a highly diligent work ethic, meticulous research and planning, creativity, and a genius for practical innovation. One garden unites all these elements together into one exquisitely satisfying whole, while the other radically deconstructs them into something perhaps more strange than merely beautiful.

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