Australia and the 2020 Garden Trips

September 24th, 2019

   Our 2020 lineup of garden trips is in the works, and Lowee’s Group Tours and I will be unveiling the details at our fifth annual Garden Travel Day, set for Sat., Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. in the West Hanover Twp. Recreation Center, 628 Walnut Ave., Harrisburg.

Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens

   The “big trip” of 2020 will be a 19-day trip to see the gardens, scenery, and unique attractions in the Land Down Under – Australia and New Zealand. It’s scheduled for the end of October into the first week and a half of November, which is Australia’s springtime.

   We’re also planning three multi-day coach trips in 2020 – an eight-day trip to the gardens of Niagara and Toronto along with the Rochester Lilac Festival next spring; a nine-day garden-focused trip to Nashville, St. Louis, and Louisville next summer, and a four-day Christmas-time trip to North Carolina’s Biltmore Estate, plus Stowe Botanical Gardens, ChristmasTown USA, and a tour of the National Gingerbread House Competition.

   Once again in 2020, we’ll be running day trips each weekday to the Philadelphia Flower Show and expanding the choices to day trips on the opening Saturday and Sunday, with options to take part in a Garden Tea event.

   Five additional day trips round out the 2020 lineup, including tours of a pair of Lancaster County home gardens, Delaware’s Mt. Cuba Center and the new Delaware Botanic Gardens, gardens of New York’s Hudson River, and Philadelphia’s Morris Arboretum and Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.

   We’ll have flyers with the full itineraries available for the Oct. 26 Garden Travel Day, and I’ll be doing a PowerPoint presentation showing you what all we’ll be seeing.

   Travel Day is free, and you’re invited! Free refreshments will be served.

   You’ll have a shot at winning raffle prizes, including trip discounts and two of my gardening books. Register ahead of time, and you get an extra raffle ticket.

   To register, call Lowee’s Group Tours at 717-657-9658, email ckelly@lowees.com, or register online at Lowee’s website.

   The West Hanover Rec Center is located just off Linglestown Road near Central Dauphin High School.

   Below are destinations and tentative dates for the 2020 trips. Pricing and more details will be available at the Oct. 28 Garden Travel Day and, as they’re ready, on the George’s Talks and Trips section of my website and on the Garden Series section of Lowee’s website.

   Feb. 29 and March 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, 2020: The Philadelphia Flower Show. This is the world’s biggest, oldest indoor flower show. Lots of people go to see it every year. If you’ve never been there, it’s a bucket-list must-see for any gardener with 40 elaborate indoor gardens, a huge gardener’s marketplace, continuous gardening talks, and loads of floral displays and demos.

   We have both East Shore and West Shore pickups and leave mid-morning to allow more show time as crowds thin in late afternoon. The show theme for 2020 is a Mediterranean one titled, “Riviera Holiday.”

A pond in Dennis Denenberg’s back yard.

   Thur., April 30, 2020: We’ll start the day by visiting the fascinating one-acre Wizard of Oz home garden of Dr. Dennis Denenberg in Lancaster County (including his indoor collection of Oz memorabilia), then tour the gardens of Vivian and Bob Abel’s Pheasant Run Farm Bed and Breakfast in the serene Lancaster County countryside.

   After a buffet lunch at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord, I’ll be available to help you pick out bargains at two of my favorite plant shops in Lancaster’s Amish area: Conestoga Nursery, which specializes in trees, shrubs, and evergreens, and Black Creek Greenhouses, which specializes in annuals, perennials, herbs, and vegetables.

The Niagara Botanic Gardens.

   Sat. May 2-Sat., May 9, 2020: We’re heading to Canada to see bulbs and spring in early glory, first at Niagara Falls (Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Niagara Butterfly Conservatory, the Floral Clock, Queen Victoria Park) and then in Toronto (Toronto Music Garden, Casa Loma, Toronto Botanical Garden, Edwards Gardens, and Parkwood in nearby Oshawa).

   We’ll also see an impressive home garden on the way up (Smug Creek Gardens), the huge Royal Botanical Gardens between Niagara and Toronto, and the fragrant Rochester Lilac Festival on the way back.

   I hear there’s a nice little waterfall up in Niagara that we’ll have a look at, too. And we’ll be spending an afternoon in the quaint and colorful town of Niagara-on-the-Lake with a stop at the McFarland House, billed as “Canada’s Best Tea Garden.”

An artist’s rendering of what the new Delaware Botanic Garden will look like.

   Thur., June 18, 2020: Delaware just opened a new public garden a few weeks ago – the Delaware Botanic Garden near the coastal town of Dagsboro. It’ll eventually be 37 acres worth of gardens, but for now, the highlights are a two-acre meadow planned by famous Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf and a woodland garden. You’ll be among the first to see it.

   This day trip also features a tour of the mostly native-plant gardens of Mt. Cuba Center near Hockessin, Del.

   Fri., July 24, 2020: New York has two very nice but under-known public gardens along the Hudson River. We’ll visit both of them.

Untermyer Garden’s Greek-style garden in the evening.

   The first is Wave Hill, a beautifully designed 28 acres of diverse plantings with a great view above the Hudson. The second is Untermyer Gardens, a recently renovated 43-acre park with formal Grecian-style gardens, statuary, and a “Vista” staircase leading down to the Hudson.

   Thur. Aug. 20, 2020: For this day trip, we head to Philadelphia to tour Pennsylvania’s official state arboretum – Morris Arboretum – in the morning, then Fairmount Park’s Shofuso Japanese House and Garden in the afternoon. You’ll also have time to visit the park’s Horticulture Center conservatories and the other gardens on the park grounds.

   A shopping stop at the cutting-edge Terrain at Styer’s garden center is included on the way home.

Missouri Botanical Garden’s rose garden.

   Thur., Sept. 10-Fri., Sept. 18, 2020: We head to the Midwest for a nine-day tour that features three main destinations: Nashville (Opryland Hotel gardens, Belle Meade Plantation, Cheekwood Estates, Country Music Hall of Fame), St. Louis (Missouri Botanical Garden, Mississippi River paddleboat cruise, Gateway Arch), and Louisville (Kentucky Horse Park, Cave Hill Cemetery, Bernheim Arboretum, Yew Dell Gardens).

   We’ll also see a pair of nice gardens in Columbus, Ohio, on the way home (Inniswood Metro Park and Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens), plus enjoy a few “touristy” things along the way.

Milford Sound, near Queenstown, New Zealand.

   Sat., Oct. 24-Wed., Nov. 11, 2020: It might be heading into winter for us, but it’s springtime in Australia and New Zealand.

   Our 19-day trip, which includes a Fiji Island option at the end, starts in Melbourne (Fitzroy Gardens, Royal Botanic Garden, Koala Conservation Center, penguins), then goes to the Great Barrier Reef, then several days in Sydney, then finishes with gardens, the break-taking scenery and more across the southern island of New Zealand.

   Mon., Dec. 7, 2020: One of our two Christmas-trip offerings is a day trip to Winterthur (a du Pont estate decorated for Christmas and home to a large collection of early-American art and furnishings), followed by an afternoon and evening at Longwood Gardens, which features a million outdoor lights, a fountain show set to music and lights, and incredible greenhouse displays.

Biltmore’s library, decorated for Christmas.

   Tue., Dec. 8-Fri., Dec. 11, 2020: The second Christmas trip is a four-day one, with the highlight being a full day at the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, N.C. We’ll tour it during the day, spend time at the village’s Antler Hill complex in the afternoon, then see the mansion again when lit at night.

   This trip also will take you to the wonderful light display at North Carolina’s Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, through the heavily lighted town of McAdenville, N.C. (dubbed ChristmasTown USA for all the lights), and to the National Gingerbread House Competition at the Omni Grove Park Inn.

   If you’d more info on any of those trips but can’t make Travel Day, call Lowee’s at 717-657-9658, email ckelly@lowees.com, or check out the Garden Series section of Lowee’s website.