Sorry, sorry, folks, I'm late to the call! The masons were out of the door today, I was so happy! Now only the painters remain - keep your fingers crossed it doesn't rain so that they can finish. Dear MeMo, would love to meet you in person too. Wish you can come to Portugal some day. Even though I know you're not a keen traveller I'm sure you'd find reasons of interest for you here. Nancy, weather in October in Portugal. Depends a bit where you go. In the southern part (Algarve coastline) it's usually very good, dry and mild, and quite often still great for the beach. Up North temps will be slightly cooler and chances of rain will be more probable. But all in all, October is a very nice month to visit and certainly compares beautifully to Ontario in terms of weather, with the exception of Fall color. Of course, if you can make it mid to late September you can see the grape harvest, which in the Douro region (Port wine region) is a show not to be missed. There are cruises along the river Douro and you can even stay in traditional farms that produce Port wine. I could go on and on, but I don't want to bore you all to death, LOL. Let me know when you're planning to come and what sort of activities you like and I'll be glad to help. Bear in mind that Santiago de Compostela, the ultimate destination of the Camiño I posted above, is not in Portugal, but in Galicia, Spain. It's not far from the northern Portuguese border though. There are actually several Camiños de Santiago, depending where you start the pilgrimage. There is a route from Portugal, and also others from Spain itself and I believe even from France, crossing the Pyrinees. Cameron, I like this Sisterhood :-) Eduarda

Wonderful thread!! If I may reinforce/add: Kew Gardens - any season - golden pheasants in the rhodo bower. In London, St. James Park!!! Wow! Also, in London, check all the hidden Gardens - not all have high walls, some have nice wrought iron fences!! North of Dublin - Ardgillan Demanse - amazing!!! A monkey puzzle tree, at least 4 storeys high. A fabulous rose garden. The nearby towns and villages are full of private pockets gardens that will blow your mind!! Dublin itself - a fabulous city park, opposite Grafton Street. Outside of Rome - Tivoli Gardens!! The garden is mostly green, but check out the water features!! Rome - the Borghese Park - great if just for the gelato vendors and folly's, but awesome on it's own. Aberdeen, Scotland - check out the Winter Gardens. All under glass - many different zones - excellent. Also, in summer, renowned for its Roses!! Versailles was pretty much shut down for Winter when I was there. Ottawa - Grounds of the Residence of the Governor-General - cool, and once a year they do the Bunny-Hop and open the greenhouses. Festival of Spring - 10,000's of thousands of tulips - donated by the Netherlands in thanks for sheltering their Queen during WWII - thank you, it was our pleasure, and continues to be!! Butchart Gardens in Victoria - even the gardens in the city, and the side streets!!! That's enough for now!! Nancy.

Ricky, that is just stunning. Can I snag a few of the pics for my desk top slide show? Other than the pictures of some Japanese gardens, I've never seen gardens that made me want to move and garden in a different place as much as these do.

As a member of the PNHC board, I was invited to the Media Event hosted at Hersonswood garden by Burpee on May 9. Ciscoe Morris and I arrived early, and George Ball spent about 20 minutes showing us through the garden. The garden was in much better shape than we thought it would be; we learned later that it had been heavily weeded and spruced up a few days earlier. Ciscoe commented on how he'd like to get his hands on those piles of "weeds!" Me, too. To be honest, driving in and walking through the property felt the same as visiting the garden of a dead friend. There was a lot of sadness, some felt anger and all of us were frustrated that some of the beautiful plants might never be available to us in commerce. The garden near Dan and Robert's former house was referred to as The Potager by George Ball and is being used to trial "high end vegetables." It's too soon to tell if the flamboyant plantings are gone -- that will be evident in July. The gardens around the house were less well maintained but still better than expected. George Ball mentioned several times that he liked a lived-in look better than Dan and Robert's (he searched for a word but didn't finish the sentence) ... he meant, however, Dan and Robert's meticulously high standards of garden maintenance. The area around the house appeared to need some watering. All of the hoop houses are empty and the paths between weedy. It looked like a ghost town. George Ball emphasized in his talk to the press (a very poor turnout) that a condition of the sale would be that the garden would be preserved although not necessarily open to the public. Those familiar with the problems and technicalities of preserving the Dunn Garden, Miller Garden, Chase Garden, etc., know that this is very very complicated undertaking and the audience was skeptical. We went up to Windcliff, home of Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones, after the event to pick up Robert for dinner and the contrast of that garden to the Heronswood garden was a painful reminder of how beautifully maintained Heronswood was and where it is now. Heronswood will be open to the public via the Garden Conservancy on July 21 along with Little and Lewis and other gardens in the area. The PNHC board will meet again in June to discuss our next step. It is the consensus that purchasing the property for the current asking price is a very poor business decision. There are many alternatives to consider, and thoughts and ideas are welcome at weloveplants.org Diane Here is a link that might be useful: Heronswood Garden Conservancy Open Day