The Field Trip: A Perennial Summer Adventure

A friend once told me over a beer and frog legs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Travel is not about the places – it’s about the people you meet.

So true.

Now home after several whirlwind weeks on the road, I’m taking a breather to retrace my steps.

It all started with a visit to Baltimore, Maryland in late July for my first annual Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Symposium.

Next, my partner Troy and I buckled up for a 10-day road trip to Québec driving out along the silver-laced shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway to visit a pair of much revered gardens: Les Jardins de Métis and Les Quatre Vents.

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On the Roadside: A Great North American Field Trip

I’m packing my bags, setting the water-timer on my perennial holding bed, updating my passport, and getting the oil checked on my trusty yellow Subaru.

There’s travel in the works.

Next week, I set off for my first Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland – said to be a mega-flock of plant nerds. Shortly upon my return, I’m heading east to Québec on a pilgrimage to visit the much fabled Les Quatre Vents gardens in Charlevoix.

I plan to see a lot of roadside on the way. All the better to see the wildflowers of the moment… and maybe even some spaceships like the one pictured above.

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The New Perennialist: A Moment in the Sun

Two weeks back, I met up with 70 of my peers coming to Toronto from all over North America for the annual Garden Bloggers Fling.

It’s a gathering of the tribe to meet up in a different host city each year, visit gardens, talk plants, eat some great food, and grab some amazing swag.

The next week by pure coincidence, I was stunned to learn that The New Perennialist had received a 2015 Garden Writers Association Silver Award of Achievement for ‘Best Overall Blog’.

It’s also eligible to win Gold at the 67th GWA Annual Symposium in Pasadena, California this September.

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The New Perennialism: Open Source Planting Design

This is a movement which belongs to no one.

In truth, because the New Perennial movement can belong to anyone and everyone.

First and foremost, it’s about seeing plants in all their four-dimensional splendour and experiencing the slow-motion fireworks, which ensue as they flow and interact.

You don’t need a garden to do that. Just the pupils in your eyes.

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Gone to Seed: 2015

Already, there’s been a flurry of activity about all things New Perennialistic for 2015. From my vantage point in subzero Toronto, I can spy everything from a local lecture series to greater stories being released in the form of magazines, books, and a film (more on that later).

It’s safe to say that the zeitgeist of this design movement continues to spread its frost-tipped wings.

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