Fashionable Roses

Like so many of you, I work--a lot.  Between my design clients, traveling to speaking engagements, working on magazine articles, building a stock photography library and getting ready to launch a garden tour business--not to mention a few projects that I can't talk about quite yet--my days are fairly full.  To that end, sometimes it's nice to be able to mix some pleasure with my work.  Not that I don't find pleasure in all of my work.  If I didn't, I'd change careers.  But really, sometimes it's fun just to have fun and Friday was one of those days!

I've mentioned one of my favorite projects, the Nashville Music Garden, on the blog before.  This garden is a collection of all of the roses that have ever been named for one of Tennessee's great music artists, groups or songs and, as far as we know, it's the only garden like it in the world based solely on its plants having this kind of connection to the music world.  There are roses named for Barbara Mandrell, Lynn Anderson, Dolly Parton, Pam Tillis and many other artists.  There are also roses named for songs, like Rocky Top, Amazing Grace and Blue Suede Shoes.  We even have a rose, 'Crescendo', that was named by Jackson & Perkins to honor our Nashville Symphony--the first time ever a rose was named to honor a group like this--as well as The Grand Ole Opry, The Nashville Ballet and others!

On Friday, we added a new name to our list of honorees at the Nashville Music Garden--Manuel Cuevas.  Now, some of you may not know who Manuel is, but if you've ever seen a photo of someone like Marty Stuart or Dolly Parton, Dwight Yoakam or Little Jimmy Dickens--or any number of other artists--wearing one of those flashy rhinestoned and embroidered jackets, suits or shirts, then you know Manuel.  In fact, Manuel dressed "The King" himself and is the man who made Johnny Cash "The Man in Black".  So it was a true honor and privilege for this little ol' country boy from Kansas to be a part of the dedication of the new 'Manuel Cuevas' rose on Friday.  Manuel even loaned me a jacket to wear for the event and I couldn't have been prouder to wear it!

Pictured with me are Manuel (holding a picture of the rose that was named for him), legendary singer Lynn Anderson (she never promised you a rose garden!), Pat Bullard (my amazing friend who founded the Nashville Music Garden) and rose hybridizer Whit Wells of Wells Mid-South Roses (the creator of the 'Manuel Cuevas' rose and so many others).

By the way, the real rose that you see Lynn wearing on her shirt is the new 'Manuel Cuevas' rose--and the roses you see embroidered on Lynn's beautiful shirt are Manuel's own artistic interpretation of his new rose.  This shirt will be donated to the Nashville Music Garden for a special, online fundraising auction, details of which I'll announce here at a later date.

If you are interested in growing the 'Manuel Cuevas' rose or others that are part of the Nashville Music Garden collection, see Whit's website at www.wellsmidsouthroses.com.  Also, be sure to visit the Nashville Music Garden's own website at www.nashvillemusicgarden.com and become their friend by "Liking" Nashville Music Garden on Facebook.  And if you're ever in Nashville, be sure to stop by the garden which is located directly across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Symphony in Hall of Fame Park between 4th and 5th Avenue, just south of Broadway.  You never know who you might catch a glimpse of!

Pump-Kintastic!

On Friday, we loaded up the van and took the Volunteer Gardener (www.volunteergardener.org) television cameras down to Jackson, TN to visit my friend (and the horticulturist for UT's West Tennessee Research Station at Jackson) Jason Reeves. I've mentioned him before and I think I blogged about last year's pumpkin display, too. Talent beyond measure!


This year's display contains more than 5,000 pumpkins, winter squash, gourds and a few other related cucurbits arranged in two blocks in the parking lot of the research station. The design changes every year, with this year's theme featuring a river of white mini pumpkins flowing under a wooden bridge and surrounded by a fantasy landscape of orange, green, grey, blue, yellow, brown, striped, lumpy, bumpy, smooth, ribbed, tall, short, fat, skinny squash and gourds that are deftly arranged into an otherworldly scene. There's even a "nest of snakes" (gourds) living by the river and the "pumpkin house" is back this year, too!


If you have reason to be in or near Jackson, Tennessee in the next few weeks, the research station is only about 5 or 10 minutes off of the interstate. And if you can't make it to see the pumpkins, the gardens there are gorgeous, too! Even in the winter, there's enough going on to make it worth your while and during the summer months, when the gardens are in full bloom, it is nothing short of breathtaking.


I should mention that while Jason is the horticulturist for the station, he also has the talented and knowledgable Matthew Morrow helping him out, as well as an amazing group of local volunteers and master gardeners that dedicate their time to his cause.

Good Things Grow at Montrose

As part of last week's garden tours at the annual Garden Writers Association symposium we had the distinct pleasure of visiting Montrose, the well-known garden and nursery of plantswoman Nancy Goodwin. It was my first visit and I have to say, the garden was nothing short of stunning. Nancy has been responsible for introducing some fabulous plants to perennial gardens and gardeners around the world, including one of the finest heucheras ever to grace a garden, Heuchera 'Montrose Ruby'. It's a classic!

I was able to add three species of hardy cyclamen to my own collection from Nancy's garden, as well as a few other interesting and unusual perennials. I hope I have the opportunity to visit the garden again some day and see its spectacular beauty in every season. Here are a couple of photographs from our autumn visit. Notice the incredible use of textures in the garden. Though there are some autumn flowering plants putting their best foot forward, much of the interest in this garden comes from outstanding combinations of foliage juxtaposed against one another and against the creative and beautiful hardscape features of the garden.Thanks so much to Nancy for opening her garden to a motley crew and allowing us all the pleasure of seeing it in person!

I Beg Your Pardon...

A star-studded turnout for Nashville's new rose garden.

On September 29, 2009 a group of honorees, friends and special guests gathered in downtown Nashville to dedicate Nashville's newest public garden space, the Nashville Music Garden. I've given you most of the specifics in earlier posts, but thought I'd share some photos from dedication day. I had the honor of being invited to the dedication ceremony, as well as to the celebrity luncheon that followed.

Honored guests included Jeff Cook of country music super-group Alabama, newest Country Music Hall of Fame member (and my new gardening buddy) Barbara Mandrell, "Little Miss Dynamite" Brenda Lee and Irlene Mandrell, Barbara's youngest sister who was part of their incredibly successful television show in the early '80's, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.

The new garden will include not only roses, but also daylilies. One of the newest daylilies has been named to honor Barbara Mandrell and her contributions to the music world. This is the presentation of the new daylily to Barbara so that she can take it home and plant it in her own garden. Barbara has become a serious gardener in the past few years and gardens with the same passion, enthusiasm and level of perfection that she performed with on stage.

After the dedication ceremony, a private luncheon was held for the celebrities and their families who were in attendance that day. I was honored to be a part of it and just had to have my picture taken with country music legend, Lynn Anderson.

Blogging To You From...

the Garden Writers conference in Raleigh, North Carolina!

What a fun week we've had so far! There are only a couple of times a year when I get to become completely immersed in my plant nerdiness for a few days at a time and with people who absolutely, completely and totally "get it"--because they're plant nerds, too. Garden Writers is one of those weeks. Each year for about 5 days, we all descend on a city and we tear it apart, end to end, looking for the greatest gardens and the hottest plants the city has to offer. This year it's Raleigh--and North Carolina may never be the same.

On our trek over from Tennessee yesterday we took a small detour down through Charlotte, NC to visit the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. What a beautiful place to visit if you're in that part of the country for any reason. Don't miss it! Here's a photo from our visit.

Sallying forth to Raleigh we arrived in time to hit the Garden Writers conference trade show at the convention center and were soon weighted down with armloads of free goodies! Lots of plants and other cool stuff, too! There's always a great "haul" from this show because everyone is trying to promote their newest, latest and greatest plants and products to those of us who work in various media outlets so that we might write or talk about them in our articles and on our programs. I have several gorgeous new plants--hydrangeas, abelias, nandinas, loropetalums, crape myrtles and m0re--that I'll tell you about in the very near future.

Today I got to hang out with my good friends Dan Heims, Kelly Norris and Leann Barron. Since Leann had a car, she was kind enough to drive us out to a fun nursery called "Big Bloomers", about 35 minutes from Raleigh, and a good time was had by all! Each of us came back with two more big boxes full to overflowing with plants. Their prices were great and their plants were ultra-cool! What a fantastic operation. You must visit if you're in the Raleigh area.

Here is just one small section of one greenhouse. There were about 16 of these!!! Plant nerd heaven!

Tomorrow morning we're on the bus by 7 a.m. and off for breakfast at the mecca of all things rare and unusual, Plant Delights Nursery (http://www.plantdelights.com/) We'll have breakfast there (though I'm fairly certain those going to be a lot more looking and shopping going on than there is eating) and then back to Raleigh for another afternoon excursion. I'll keep you posted!

Barbara Mandrell on Volunteer Gardener

What crazy weather we're having for this time of year! I'm not complaining, because it sure is wonderful here, but my friends in the Pacific Northwest are having a recordbreaking heatwave.

My real reason for posting is to remind everyone in the middle Tennessee area that my interview with Barbara Mandrell about the new Nashville Music Garden will air tonight on Nashville Public Television at 7:30 p.m. and will repeat at 9:30 this coming Sunday morning. I hope you get to watch! If you're not in the Nashville viewing area, watch your local listings. We do air in every market in Tennessee (Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis and Martin), so we'll be on all across the state at some point in the very near future! We also spill over into any neighboring states that are able to pick up any public television stations from those cities listed, so you'll be able to watch us, too!

I'm working on a couple of new things from my trip to St. Louis last week for the Perennial Plant Association annual symposium. There are some fascinating new plants coming on the market in 2010, so a new update on those coming in the next few days. Until then, hope the weather is being kind to you.