Yes, it was a wonderfully entertaining presentation! While the UK massed perennial border is not exactly my preferred style of gardening, I did enjoy the slides showing the progression of the garden over time. But what was most appealing was Ms. Dillon's down to earth, humorous and gardening passionate narrative. What an enchanting lady!

And what capped the evening off for me was sharing the ferry ride home with Dan Hinkley :-)

While the UK massed perennial border is not exactly my preferred style of gardening

I decided to pass on this one for that very reason - thousands of British properties have long managed to establish and retain these huge labor intensive displays that are more or less completely foreign to most of us gardening here. (One important key difference is that it usually rains all summer there, but there is a lot more to it than that - I read British gardening magazines and every issue will have profiles of gardens and gardeners where a small number of people is somehow doing an incredible amount of gardening).

And what capped the evening off for me was sharing the ferry ride home with Dan Hinkley

Hopefully - unless you have already been there - you got an invitation to Windcliff out of the exchange.

this interesting, knowledgeable, self-effacing and humorous woman with a
long history of sharing her love of gardening with others

Yes, I have either seen her talk in person before or knew what might be expected from reading her writings - or other people writing about her. I have followed British gardening for decades and have been to Britain myself, would certainly not try to throw a blanket over anyone else wanting to go and be entertained by a contemporary British gardening personality.

Didn't mean to imply such. Reinforcing your POV re English mixed borders. Having one myself, I have often wished to have the "resources" to employ some movers and diggers. I think many gardeners of a certain age are rethinking our gardens in light of climate change and the tyrannical demands of maintaining a British style garden.

BTW, I am keeping a keen eye on both my corylus avellanas for signs of virus. Thanks for the heads up.

And while that style of garden design may not be MY cup of tea, I enormously appreciate and respect the horticultural knowledge most of these gardeners exude, much of it self-taught. Plus, she is such an entertaining speaker and so enthusiastic about the subject that it is infectious regardless of one's personal feelings about the design. I've gotten a similar buzz from presentations I've attended by Beth Chatto and Fergus Garrett. I was immensely taken by the photos of the birch grove carpeted in gravel with the only underplanting clumps of spring blooming bulbs - now THAT appealed!!

Have been to Windcliff a couple of times.....it is just up the hill from me. That's where my pitt 'County Park Dwarf' came from I mentioned in another thread. We only chatted briefly - primarily about the presentation but also about the Heronswood Open day next Saturday and how the garden is progressing.

Hinkley is speaking at the event on Saturday.

http://www.heronswoodgarden.org/events/

cercis47, although it was never mentioned during the presentation, I am relatively certain that there is a small army of (or at least one or two) garden helpers that keep the place looking show perfect. That's a LOT of garden for a lady of advancing years and her spouse to maintain in a condition suitable for an open-to-the-public situation. Somebody is making sure that sodden mass of leaves does not disturb the aesthetic!!

We could all use a few volunteers.

How do I find out who's coming to town and where they're speaking?

Dan Hinkley would be nice to hear.

Am I the only one not to know this?

Mike...out in the woods.

Mike, you just need to hang out with other local horties :-) or join a couple of the organizations that sponsor these types of speakers.

I used to belong to several - NW Horticultural Society, NW Perennial Alliance and a couple of smaller, more specialized groups - but since moving out of the city, have let all my memberships lapse. Too hard/too expensive (ferries!!) to get to the meetings (and many turned out to be the same old, same old and not worth the effort) anymore. But I still keep in touch with many of the fellow plant enthusiasts I met through them and a few other very active horties I've met over the years.

The Miller Memorial Lecture - the event where Helen Dillon spoke - is an annual event sponsored by the Elizabeth Miller Garden, the Miller Foundation and NWHS. I have a couple of connections with the Miller Garden and Great Plant Picks and they always manage to give me a heads up and reserve me a ticket when it happens (and a convenient pick up at the ferry terminal!).

As Garden Director, Dan usually always does a speaking presentation at the Heronswood Open days. And because it's pretty local to my area, there are always posters and signs up advertising the fact and the open days. I'm sure if you were to join as a supporting member, you'd receive notices as well.

And there is always an assortment of garden speakers at the NW Flower and Garden show - some good, some not so good, some famous, some just taking up space.

No, you are not the only one not to know what's happening when but when you are retired AND living in the wilderness of outer Maple Valley (LOL!), it would be a little tricky to know what's going on.

As an avowed hermit, I hardly know what's going on in my own neighborhood. My neighbor just got back from a two week vacation and I didn't even know he'd been gone.

It's been so dry I have been digging out a pond I dug with a bulldozer in 1978. A lot of muck has built up in that time. I'm mixing it with composted woodchips and using it as a top dressing in places. Probably 25 cu. yds before mixing with chips. Just finished getting it all out of the dry pond today.

Too busy here to go anywhere. I haven't even been on, or over, I-5 this year.

Getting picked up at the ferry terminal sounds interesting. ;-)

I have yet to see the Elizabeth Miller Garden, but have read about it.

Mike...resident hermit. :-)