Garden Memories of 2011

December 20th, 2011

As another year heads into the sunset, I’ve been thinking back to some of the spectacular gardening sights I’ve seen in 2011.

Even the rocks bloom in South Africa.

The highlight for me was a 17-day trip in January to South Africa through Harrisburg Area Community College.

What a crazy plant place that is. (South Africa, not HACC, although the landscaping is very nice there, too.)

Just about everything is different on the other side of the world… rock-garden plants that look like rocks, cactus-like growths that aren’t cactus at all, and trees that look like they’ve been planted upside down.

It was a fascinating adventure. No wonder York College professor Marilyn Daly — who’s been there several times — calls it the “Land of Oz.”

I took lots of photos. And I’ve included them at the top of a new Photo Gallery I just posted called “George’s Favorite Photos of 2011.” Click here to see it.

Even more photos from South Africa are at this earlier Photo Gallery, in case you haven’t already seen it.

The other cool trip I took in 2011 was to Ireland through Harrigan Holidays. This trip took us up into Northern Ireland (Belfast Botanic Garden, Mt. Stewart, Giant’s Causeway, etc.) and then into the moon-like Burren region along the west coast.

Man, those Irish know how to garden. This is at Glenveigh Castle.

Those Irish sure know how to garden… and most of them seem to love plants. Part of it is the exceptionally plant-friendly climate, but the people just seem to have a much greater appreciation for gardening in general than a typical American.

I saw lots of great gardens and lush scenery there, and several photos are in the “George’s Favorite Photos” gallery, plus many more here.

The Favorite Photos gallery also includes some great home gardens I saw on the 2011 Garden Walk Buffalo tour (we’re leading another bus trip there in July 2012, see http://georgeweigel.net/georges-talks-and-trips), and some other interesting garden shots closer to home.

Oh, yeah. Some of the “spectacular” garden sights of 2011 were the results of those tornados, hurricane remnants and the pre-Halloween snowstorm we had. I kept those photos to a minimum.

Happy photo-ogling, and may you all have a great Christmas and a wonderful holiday season.