{"id":4980,"date":"2014-01-18T22:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T17:55:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T21:55:43","slug":"a-snow-day-and-garden-partyreally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2014\/01\/a-snow-day-and-garden-partyreally\/","title":{"rendered":"A Snow Day and Garden Party…Really!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Who says that you can’t have a garden party in January during a snowstorm? Believe me, if there was no snow, these dead abutilon topiary trees still out on the deck would look pretty dull, if not trash-worthy. Well, they are still trashy, but with a coating of puffy snow, they actually received complements. Yes, it’s amazing how brilliant we are.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
Plants women Ellen Hornig (center), and horticulturist\/botanist Kris Fenderson ( on window) joked with us that our dining room table looked like a board room table (um,yeah… it does). But we had to relocate it to my studio while the dining room substitutes as a bedroom for my father, blah, blah, blah. Believe me, everyone understood in this tight-knot group of plant lovers. This annual event has brought many like minds together for lively plant discussions, seed exchanges and good food.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nOur mixed group this year welcomed long time member Ellen Hornig, one time proprietor of (the now closed) Seneca Hill Nursery in Oswego, NY, a plantswomen who is well known in the botanical circles in which we sometimes dabble. We welcome her not only as our new neighbor, but a fellow plant geek if not expert of the most accomplished kind. <\/div>\n
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\nI was lucky to have a few camellias still in full bloom, not sure why they never dropped their blossoms from last week, but the remained full of color, so the greenhouse looked pretty good on this dark, snowy January day. Oh, and yes….the snow, with flakes so fluffy and big that they floated down in slow motion. It was a day when the weathermen all forested a ‘light dusting of snow’, which ended with 4 inches of wet, sticky snow – the sort that sticks to every twig and bud, but that melted when it hit the pavement. Perfect, in a Hollywood set sort of way.<\/div>\n
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\nAnd so, the modern plant society evolves – from what was once a strict and formal genus-specific organization, into one where plant lovers of most any breed ( cacti, succulents, wild flowers and native plants, woodies and alpines – whatever) all join on a snowy Saturday for nachos and plant chat, and this year, it couldn’t have been better.<\/p>\n
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In the back yard, the snow stick to everything. It was relatively warm, just near freezing, and when this happens, the snow is heavier and stickier. It’s OK, it was pretty. Even thought many of the hardy bamboo didn’t like it.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n