From Mickey Mouse to Buffalo to the Eiffel Tower

November 17th, 2015

So many great gardens and so little time to see them all… but I’m trying!

Here’s one of our eager groups listening to Charles Cresson before exploring his wonderful private garden in Swarthmore.

You’re welcome to come along, too, to gawk, be inspired and steal ideas from some of the most awesome plant displays from our own backyards to France’s palaces.

Our 2016 garden-trip lineup is ready, and it’s the most ambitious one yet.

Fourteen different trips are on tap for next year, ranging from a local day trip of five superb private gardens in the Harrisburg area to an 8-day gardener’s international vacation to some of Paris’s world-class palace gardens.

My wife, Sue, and I have been pairing with Lowee’s Group Tours of Harrisburg for almost 10 years now, coming up with garden trips we think people might like.

We must be guessing right.

Interest has been growing every year, and we’ve been adding more trips. We’ll be doing at least one almost every month during 2016.

Some people like the bus trips to day-trip venues like Chanticleer or the New York Botanical Garden or D.C.’s Hillwood Estate.

Here’s our New England-trip group with Roger Swain in his vegetable garden.

Others lean toward the multi-day mini-vacations, like the ones we’ve run to New England (Maine Botanical Garden, Boston’s Tower Hill, Roger Swain’s home garden) or last year’s early-spring jaunt to Savannah, the Charleston Home and Garden Tour and Pearl Fryar’s incredible topiary garden in rural South Carolina.

And others go for the “big one” – the overseas trips to see great gardens of the world, such as ones we’ve done to South Africa’s Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Holland’s Keukenhof and Italy’s stunning northern-island gardens.

Some people are “regulars” (almost family now) who go on most every trip. If there’s a garden to see, they’re in.

In all cases, the best part is devoting time to marveling at top-notch gardening and doing it with a group of people who appreciate the same passion.

“Normal” people might look at you like you’re weird for being fascinated at the petal shape of a new coneflower. But on a garden trip, everyone gathers around to check it out, too.

I can think of a lot worse way to spend a day than looking at plants and eating good food with a bunch of gardeners – most of whom happen to be some of the nicest, most kindhearted people on the planet.

That’s one thing I’ve noticed about gardeners. There aren’t many mean ones. I think the same genes that make you appreciate flowers and fresh air also make you caring and nurturing in general.

Anyway, the 2016 lineup is done and available for your perusal on my George’s Talks and Trips page.

Among the 14 trips are five day trips to the Philadelphia Flower Show, which is themed around the 100^th anniversary of the National Park Service and always worth seeing. We’re doing one every weekday of the show next year, from March 7 to March 11.

Lakeland’s Hollis Gardens is one of the gardens we’ll see on the February 2016 trip.

We’re starting the year with an 8-day trip to see six superb Florida gardens, plus a behind-the-scenes tour of Epcot’s Land Pavilion hydroponic gardens, a day trip (including boat cruise) to see Florida native plants and wildlife, and the best strawberry sundaes you’ve ever had. That’ll happen Feb. 2-9, 2016.

The big trip of 2016 will be an overseas gardeners vacation to great gardens and attractions in and around Paris, France. Operated by Collette Tours, this 8-day trip features visits to Monet’s Giverny, the palace gardens at Versailles, the Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral and France’s Champagne country as well as dinner in the Eiffel Tower, an evening cruise on the Seine River, and the choice of a free day in Paris or a day trip to the extraordinary gardens at the Chateau de Villandry. The trip dates are Sept. 19-26, 2016.

We’re also doing one longer domestic trip in May 2016 – to see Holland, Michigan’s annual Tulip Festival, plus the tranquil Mackinac Island. We’re busing it, for those of you who aren’t airplane fans.

We’ll be taking a horse-drawn wagon tour of Mackinac Island on the 2016 Michigan trip.

Stops include the Toledo Botanical Garden, gardens on the campuses of Michigan State University and the University of Michigan (including MSU’s famous children’s garden), the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, and the new Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. We’ll also see Dearborn’s Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and a picturesque winery overlooking Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay. The trip dates are May 7-15, 2016.

If that’s a little long, we’re doing a 3-day trip up to Buffalo next July 29-31 to see the humongous Garden Walk Buffalo, which is America’s biggest garden tour and now up to about 400 gardens open to visitors. It’s absolutely the best place I’ve ever seen to get ideas for your own home gardens.

This will be our fourth trip to Garden Walk, and we still haven’t come close to seeing all of the gardens. We’ll spend 2 days at Garden Walk (I’ll point out the must-see places to help you maximize your time), and we’ll also see Cornell University’s Plantations Botanic Gardens, the Erie Marina’s flower trials, and a Finger Lakes winery, plus take a Saturday-evening catamaran cruise on Lake Erie.

The remaining trips are 1-day ones:

Sat., April 23: Check out the historic homes and city gardens on Alexandria, Va.’s 2016 Home and Garden Tour, then tour George Washington’s Mt. Vernon estate in the afternoon.

Ann Markley’s Morris Medley garden is one of the stops on our Home Grown 2 tour.

Fri., July 1: Our 2015 tour of local gardens went over so well (we added a second bus) that we’re repeating the idea with a day trip through five more outstanding East Shore gardens, including a hydrangea haven, a peaceful homestead with lake and labyrinth, and a “no-get-away, get-away garden” with a writer’s cottage and stream. These are all private, home gardens, and you won’t see them any other way.

Fri., Aug. 19: Here’s another day trip to three private home gardens in the State College/Bellefonte area, including a 2-acre meadow garden, a charming landscape built around a restored log barn (which we’ll also see), and a country get-away with an acre of themed gardens. We’ll also see State College’s Snetsinger Butterfly Garden and Tait Farms garden center and market.

Fri., Oct. 28: We’ll start with the fall beauty at Brandywine Cottage, the home garden of David Culp (author of “The Layered Garden”) and Michael Alderfer. Then we’ll make a shop-stop at the cutting-edge Terrain at Styer’s garden center (owned by the Urban Outfitters clothing chain), then spend the afternoon at Chanticleer Gardens, which many people rank as Pennsylvania’s second best garden, behind only Longwood.

Fri., Dec. 2: We’ll close out the 2016 series with a holiday-themed day trip to Behnke Nursery in the morning (a family-owned garden center), then the amazing ICE! exhibit at Gaylord National Resort, then a visit to the U.S. Botanic Garden adorned for Christmas, then an after-dinner tour of the outdoor holiday light show at Brookside Gardens.

See you on the bus.