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Galega x hartlandii 'Lady Wilson'  On Monday, our garden was included in the HPSO Study Weekend. This is a four-day event that includes speakers, plant/art sales and garden tours. The event rotates every two years between the cities of Portland, Seattle, Victoria B.C. and Vancouver B.C.  It will be 2033 before Portland hosts again. I toured the Portland gardens on Friday and Saturday and will share some photos in my next post. The weather was perfect on those days. Not so much on Monday, the day for the Vancouver, Washington gardens tour, and by late afternoon, the temperature had reached 94. However, it wasn't too bad in the first part of the day, and that's when we received the most visitors. We didn't have an exact count, but making an estimate based on our guestbook, I would say around 200 people. It was a hectic but fun day! We had a lot of visitors from Seattle and areas north of us as attendees were making their way home. Every time we open our garden, there ...

DVD Giveaway

Congratulations to RobinL, who is the winner of the contest!

I recently received a great documentary and want to pass it along. Gardeners will love this! The subjects of "Portrait of a Garden" are a country estate owner in the Netherlands and an 85 year old pruning expert. The film follows them during the course of a year as they work in a vast kitchen garden. They grow every fruit and vegetable you can think of (and some that I had never heard of). Most of their time is spent painstakingly pruning espalied fruit trees. They chat about their methods (which they have been practicing since the days of Louis XIV) and how the world once revered great gardeners while today it is sadly a diminishing art. There is little dialog however (and the language is Dutch with English subtitles). Mostly the camera lingers on nature, resulting in exquisite photography. The beautiful images are accompanied by a mellow score. The whole film is mesmerizing (or it was for me) and I enjoyed it very much.

To enter the contest, just leave a comment to this post and include your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you are the winner. The deadline for entering is midnight, April 9. I will use a random number generator to select a winner.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. This sounds like something I would like to see.
    bowerbird53atsbcglobaldotnet

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  2. How fun, count me in! robinleja@gmail.com

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  3. Thanks for the giveaway! Vujade1 at Gmail dot com

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  4. Hi Phillip, that sounds like and interesting documentary indeed. Please enter me in the drawing. Thnaks!
    christina@organicgardendreams.com

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  5. Fantastic contest; I'll link it. Shoalanda.Speaks@gmail.com

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  6. Have been trying to get fruit from my espalier trees for years. Love your post.

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  7. Please put my name in the hat - morehiways at cox dot net

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  8. I look forward to receiving the DVD with great anticipation. Thanks.

    plantlustlita@gmail.com

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  9. Thanks for bringing this DVD to my attention, Phillip.

    I'm going to see if I can get my local library to order it!

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  10. Sounds beautiful! I am sure it would give me some great ideas.

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  11. This sounds like a great documentary! Thanks for having the giveaway! My wife and I would really enjoy this! Thanks for the chance!

    oliverspendulum@yahoo.com

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  12. Would love this dvd. Could watch gardening experts all day.

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  13. Please add my name to the list.
    Jeannie
    GetMeToTheCountry.Blogspot.com
    jmorrrris9@gmail.com

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  14. Learning about the tried and true methods and some unusual varieties sounds like fun!
    ricklet@centurylink.net

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  15. Oh, what fun! Count me in! Gardenspirit13@gmail.com

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