Polly: GardenAsheville site moderator

Buncombe County hort/ag agent Linda Blue is a frequent contributor to the “Almanac Gardener” show on UNC-TV. Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Saturday, July 4, at Noon
Panel:
Bill Lord, Extension Environmental Agent, Franklin County; Karen Neill, Extension Horticultural Agent, Guilford County; Lucy Bradley, Urban Horticultural Specialist, NCSU
Features:
Linda Blue, Extension Horticultural Agent, Buncombe County:
Growing Rhododendrons
Karen Neill, Extension Horticultural Agent, Guilford Coun… Continue

A Mountains in Bloom garden festival is coming up July 7-11 in Highlands, featuring a garden tour of seven Highlands homes, a flower show and photography competition, lectures, a home and garden shop and a July 10 patrons party. Proceeds benefit The Bascom, a nonprofit visual arts center out there.
Tickets vary for the events, starting at $10 and going up to $225 for the patrons party. Speaking of which, it’s being dubbed the Giverny in Highlands Patrons Party, and will be held at the home of Pa… Continue

I’ve had it with Garden Design magazine. They should just rename it Modern Garden Design.
The current issue (July/August) has nothing to recommend itself beyond a nice little spread on Leslie and Susan Rudd’s Napa Valley garden by Thomas Hobbs. The Rudds own the specialty food chain Dean & Deluca and so you might expect they have the money to have a wondrous garden installed. And they did.
That’s not the point.
At least the Rudd garden has some classical elements, some symmetry and some actu… Continue

Tickets are still available for the Buncombe County Master Gardeners tour this Saturday. Organizers usually cap the event at 500 people. According to extension agent Linda Blue the tour will feature four gardens of master gardener volunteers and a school garden. All gardens are within the Asheville city limits.
“Although tour participants can certainly just stroll through the gardens and enjoy the scenery, what sets the master gardeners' tour apart is the emphasis on education,” Blue notes. “Hop… Continue

I always thought Charleston had elegant gardens, and it does. Many of them, however, are tucked away in private courtyards. Charleston makes up for it with outstanding windowboxes. They rule in the windowbox department.
But Savannah has more public gardens, thanks to its many squares, more than 20 of them.
I visited Savannah last week, where I largely got lost a lot in a larger city than I expected. Still, getting lost means making unexpected finds. Here are some of mine.

First of all this real… Continue