The Bee Tours Virginia! © Britt Conley

This past weekend, my sister Erika, (Official Assistant Photo Garden Bee) accompanied me on a three city Virginia Garden extravaganza.  We drove from the coast to the mountains between Norfolk, Richmond and Charlottesville.

Map of our drive between Charlottesville to Norfolk

The 162.54 mile drive was beautiful!  Throughout the weekend I took thousands of photographs and will be featuring various aspects of each garden over the next month or more.  Due to the sheer amount of content I decided to start with this overall of the weekend tour before I get into the individual features.

The Bee Mobile at Norfolk Botanical Gardens © Britt Conley

Friday we packed The Bee mobile, as we call it, and headed down to Richmond from Washington DC on Saturday to Visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  Lewis Ginter has nearly twenty unique garden areas if not more through out the massive acreage.  Yet again the grounds were perfectly lovely.  Asian Valley was nearly magical.

Lewis Ginter's Asian Valley © Britt Conley

I must have taken a thousand photos throughout the day!

Asian Valley Lewis Ginter © Britt Conley

Despite having been here numerous times, we manged to find new paths leading to new areas I had never seen.  With all the paths and twists and turns It’s easy to miss a picture perfect place like this…

Stream at Lewis Ginter © Britt Conley

Of course no one can miss the Lake that separates the Rose Garden and Children’s Garden.  It has always been one of favorite things to photograph here.  The lake changes its atmospheric feel throughout the days lighting.  If only I had a boat!

The Lake Lewis Ginter © Britt Conley

Erika was thrilled to find that Lewis Ginter was on the Audubon’s Birding List.  Being a avid bird watcher, she was in birding heaven!

Erika spent the day birdwatching at Lewis Ginter © Britt Conley

Right now Lewis Ginter is featuring the art of Hans Godo Frabel with the  Mid-Atlantic premier of his installation Glorious Glass in the Garden.  I’ll featuring it for Thursday’s Bee post.  There will be more Lewis Ginter features to come!

Our next stop was Norfolk Botanical Garden which is essentially where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.  A stunning geographic area.  The garden is absolutely huge!  It also has nearly twenty diverse, themed garden areas.

The fountain at Norfolk Botanical Garden © Britt Conley

I have been out photographing Hydrangeas around the DC area for weeks in an attempt to gather as many varieties as possible for my upcoming hydrangea post.  Little did I know that Norfolk Botanical Garden has it’s own Hydrangea forest garden!  I be doing a post on this next week!

Hydrangeas at Norfolk Botanical Garden © Britt Conley

The Roses at the International Test Garden are famous world wide for a reason!

Roses Norfolk Botanical Garden © Britt Conley

Even the Geese were enamoured!

Canadian Geese at Norfolk Botanical Garden © Britt Conley

We finally managed to take the famous 45 minute boat ride through the garden canal system.  The tour guide sent us out to bird watch from the immense lake!

The Norfolk Botanical Garden's boat ride © Britt Conley

The garden’s canal system was built in the 1960s.  It  wanders it’s way through many of the garden areas with viewing benches along the way.

Waterway at Norfolk Botanical Gardens © Britt Conley

With all the woods, Erika was a busy bee!  She just couldn’t put her binoculars down!  She will be doing a Bee Post of her own on the gardens Bald Eagles!

Erika bird watching at Norfolk Botanical Garden © Britt Conley

We must have seen half a dozen different Geese out with their young.   At one point we were blocked from our destination with three sets of parents and offspring groups wading across the pathway in perfect formation.

Geese © Britt Conley

The gardens areas are so diverse it almost felt like we traveled the worlds geography!  Out in the beating sun was a fun grass land with a carved complex Butterfly Winged design.  Really fun for kids!

Butterfly Maze Norfolk Botantical Garden © Britt Conley

As with all the gardens we visited the flowers were the main event.  I must have photographed hundreds of individual blooms.

Cone Flower © Britt Conley

The ground covers here were also colorfully flanking paths.

Bee Photographing the way to the next garden © Britt Conley

Much, much more to come on Norfolk’s Botanical Garden.  I see many a feature in the coming weeks!

Monticello © Britt Conley

The last stop on our whirlwind weekend was Monticello!  We almost didn’t make it.  Erika and I were so sunburned we slept in yesterday.  After pulling the hotel curtains back, the blue sky beckoned and we were back on!

The Dirt Path at Monticello © Britt Conley

Now we came to see Thomas Jefferson’s Heritage Garden and it was magnificent! This is just a teaser of a small corner of the garden.  Several posts are coming on the garden including a wonderful one on one with one of the gardeners Pat brodowski!  What an informative exchange it was!

The Monticello Garden © Britt Conley

This wasn’t the only garden here!  There were also the yard flowers which set Monticello’s backyard view.

The Monticello Garden © Britt Conley

The most stunning thing about Monticello is the view.  Jefferson clearly loved it and enjoyed it often.

The view from Monticello's Heritage Vegetable Garden © Britt Conley

Well, the weekend offered an amazing cross view of the Virginian countryside.  The gardens were outstanding as always.  I’ll be offering more in depth features of  each garden over the next weeks.  There is simply so much to feature at each location!  I hope you enjoyed the overview.

The Photo Garden Bee visiting Norfolk Botanical Gardens © Britt Conley

As always feel free to visit the Suggest a Garden page!  I am always looking for another magical garden to visit around the country.

‘Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. The Photo Garden Bee Lifts off in a Hot air balloon over Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.
2. Bicentennial Rose Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden
3. The Kaufman Hydrangea Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden

My shadow while shooting at the Winterthur Peony Garden © Britt Conley

So, two months ago this traveling Photo Garden Bee suddenly felt horrible.  Turns out I was sick and sick enough to need massive abdominal surgery.  So, I headed to the hospital at the end of March and put The Photo Garden Bee on hold.  To add difficulty to difficulty, my Mother unexpectedly passed away the day I was released from the hospital.  So, it’s been a pretty insane couple of months. I was able to put up some posts here and there but ended up needing more time off than not.

The Photo Garden Bee and Me © Britt Conley

But thanks to all the amazing guest bloggers who happily came to my aid, the site was able to live on.  It’s been a very, very long six weeks of recovery made even longer by my Dr. adding two more weeks due to “slow healing.”   Having such wonderful people helping really made my recovery nicer.

Lillytopia at Longwood Gardens © Britt Conley

So, for the past two months I’ve had to work hard  to rise up, sit and then walk and frankly I am still having trouble with the walking and stairs but am getting better each day.  I have been hold up at home with a few trips out into the world now and then, but now get to get back to what I love: traveling to gardens!  Above, I’m enjoying Lillytopia!  It was fantastic!!!  A post to come on Friday!

The Photo Garden Bee is back on the road! © Britt Conley

I went on my first road trip this past weekend and it was Great!  I did a bit too much and had a small set back, but it was GREAT!

Britt and Erika back on the road! © Britt Conley

My younger sister and official Assistant Photo Garden Bee, Erika and I headed up to Pennsylvania Friday night and spent a lovely weekend shooting at Longwood and Winterthur Gardens.

Britt and Erika back on the road! © Britt Conley

Erika brought her binoculars to enjoy the birds: her favorite past time!

Erika birdwatching © Britt Conley

I had hoped to visit a couple of other gardens as well but I just wasn’t physically able.  Soon, maybe a another month.

I want to thank all the guest bloggers and offer up another opportunity to see their work! :

Karon Flage: Community Gardens

Laura Segal: The Gardens at Roche Harbor

Nell Carroll: Texas Wildflowers and The Joy of Roses

Noreen Freebairn: The Tulips at Longwood Gardens

Christine Otis: Natural Beauty in an Urban Environment

Kathy Jentz: Virginia’s Historic Garden Week

Julia Schmalz: A taste of Biltmore’s Gardens

Brenda Haas: Midwest Spring Treasures

Chris Gray Faust for her guest blog back in February: The Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Estates

and those upcoming bloggers who are still out there including Steve Ray and Erika Malmgren!  Now, If I haven’t responded to a guest blogging entry that means I never received it.  Either too many photos attached or a file was to large.  In that case, email me without the photos to let me know you’re out there!  I am still up for more guests to come on board for a day!  Just email me at britt@thephotogardenbee.com

Britt and Erika © Britt Conley

Thanks to everyone for all your support, friendship and patience.  I am thrilled to be back with camera in hand and helping to bring great gardens your way!  That is why I started this blog.  One of the best things I’ve ever done.

‘Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. Blooming again!
2. A great weekend… now for the next six weeks!
3. The Chairs of Longwood Gardens

Rose © Britt Conley

I wanted to thank everyone for your heartfelt wishes and support over the past six weeks while I have been recovery from my abdominal surgery and the death of my mother.  I can’t tell you how difficult it’s been, but I can say that all of you have made it so much better than it would have been.  Tending to the blog has given me something wonderful to do while I’ve been hold up at home.  I also want to thank all the guest bloggers who stepped in and helped keep the bloog afloat and all you who kept coming back, even on days when all I could muster was s single bloom.  Today I see my surgeon for my final follow up.  I am not at 100% by any means, but I am well enough to travel now if I take care.

In another week or so I’ll be able to start getting back on track, “to find and photograph the most magical, intimate, majestic, romantic, and historic gardens around the U.S.  and share what’s amazing about each place.”

I just wanted to thank all you for everything : )

For anyone out there who still would like to guest blog on The Photo Garden Bee there is still time!  Just email me at britt@thephotogardenbee.com.

UPDATE: Well, the Dr. says I need two more weeks of recovery time.  Which makes sense.  That said, I’ll keep doing my best to get back to those gardens!

‘Til Tomorrow…”

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. The Bee is Back Officially!
2. The tulips at Longwood Gardens by guest blogger Noreen Freebairn!
3. Wollam Gardens at The Arlington Farmer’s Market

The Stone Garden © Britt Conley

I am not one to get depressed.  In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times in my life I have ever been and nearly every occasion was before my adult life.  This is because at heart, I am an optimist of the highest kind.  I don’t get jealous of those who do well, I am thrilled for them and I feel inspired.  I love to see people rise to the occasion.  Perhaps because it reminds me that anyone can with enough dreams, gumption and self determination can do great things.  I have always been full of these things.  So, despite welling up when I was first told that my services were no longer needed, I suddenly felt the breeze of freedom from a long hull of stressful, painstaking, aggressively fast paced newspaper life, and what I realized was my life.  The relief was tremendous.  That is not say I didn’t have those moments of, “What the hell am I going to do with the bills!”  or five months of only getting one call back from the dozens of job applications I’ve sent out and then never getting call number two.  It’s a process that I don’t wish on anyone and yet it has lifted my life out of my hamster cage.  I was given a sack of rocks and told to go sit in the unemployment corner.  Each rock I’ve had to pull out of the bag and experience like homework that must be turned in.  Each one has an assignment that I need to address in order to place that rock aside and move to the next.  Most are merely logistical.  Like filing for unemployment and wrapping up financial paper work – which takes months.   That said, I’ve had The Photo Garden Bee blog and this has been an unsrupassed joy!

In February I hatched my first big business plan as a side income for The Photo Garden Bee and put in a great deal of money and time and preparation only to be handed a bolder, which subsequently crushed me. My business “future” with all is glory ran over me and off into the sunset before I could even sit up.  It was one of those movie making crazy moments that left me in public tears actually wearing bee antenna.  I can’t help but laugh every time I look back at it.  Partly because I’ve learned that what seems like a insurmountable odd at the time can actually be a small rock in the garden.  I may halt your tiller in the middle of your grand push but it only really requires picking it up and fixing it.  Much like I did myself.

In March, I became even sicker than I had been.  And I had been for years but it was hard to notice through the daily grind.  It finally became life altering to the point that I realized my life was about to be in danger.  So I headed to the Doctor and behold I had five massive fibroid tumors pressing on other organs and one was already preventing another organ from working correctly at all.  Waiting for the surgery was seemingly the longest two weeks of my life.  Well, until I had the surgery.  Now these are the longest weeks of my life.  Laugh out loud!

This was supposed to be the grandest garden hoping time of all and instead I can now walk just over one block and back as I continue to recover.  Another rock in my garden as I attempt to till.  On top of this as you all know, my mother suddenly became ill just before my surgery and made me her medical proxy.  We found out just the before hand that she had cancer.  I couldn’t fly out to Utah because of my condition and the impending surgery so we had to do everything by phone.  A normal conversation one week turned to difficulty attempted communication within days to just being able to get a hand full of words from her the day before the surgery.  I called her the day after the surgery, as I couldn’t do anything myself the day off, and found myself with a one way conversation from my hospital bed to hers.  How did this happen and so fast?  I was released the next day and at 3:oo am that night I was awoken to the words that she had passed.  My garden plans were  done.  My family and I were suddenly planning a funeral that I wouldn’t even be able to attend.  I can’t tell you what this is like.  But it’s kind of like being handed a sack full of boulders for your small garden.

You’d think I’d be depressed by now, but, it doesn’t quite feel that way.  Perhaps it’s the amount of losses one after the other have prepared me for this.  I don’t know.  I even have another life altering loss and event during this time I haven’t even mentioned.  Thus, the garden plan itself must be altered.  All of this has fundamentally changed my entire concept for my garden.  It’s shape, it’s point is gone.  I realize that what I knew about what I love, like, and dislike was more certain than most people I’ve ever met.  Now I have no idea. I suddenly feel I don’t have to have a garden at all.  I have a yard, I have a world that I’ve barely experienced.  I thought I had experienced it and fully!   But, now I have a new set of glasses and taste buds.  Being stuck at home still, only half way through my recovery, I don’t even know how they will work but I know they are already installed.  I don’t think they are returnable. My life was carved out with it’s garden time.  Now I realize that life is the garden and I wasn’t giving it it’s full due. Change is a very wonderful thing.

A rock garden © Britt Conley

I never really liked rock gardens. Mostly because I never considered them gardens.  Yet here I am with a garden plot full of rocks and boulders and the realization that I have an all new space that these rocks and boulders can adorn.  In fact they are not impediments to my garden at all, but building blocks.  Rock gardens can be stunningly beautiful. They require more than tilling the soil, dropping in seeds and waiting to see what emerges with some bug maintenance.  They require a creative vision, planning, physical building and a design that you get to create yourself.  They are stunning when finished, like natural mosaics with texture and finish.

The Stone Garden at Dumbarton Oaks © Britt Conley

Every so often my husband and I try to articulate why we wanted to marry each other. It’s been almost fourteen years.  We were engaged just three weeks after our first date so the “whys” are fun to consider and reflect on.  This past week I realized a great metaphor.  I wanted to marry him because he was like a plot of soil that was perfect for me to grow.  No matter what was to come my way, this soil felt like home between my toes and the perfect acidity for me and my heart.  Now after all these years of growing together and seeing many different flowers and plant projects along the way I have found I want to start over.  I want to go on a date with my husband and find out more about the soil I love so much.  I want to garden hop with him around the country and taste all new foods.

That is the phenomenal thing about nature.  After fire has burned the fields and soil there is a period where nothing can survive and then when you least expect it comes the first growth and then a meadow shortly there after that is healthier and more fresh and pristine than the last.  So in what seems like six months of crazy life altering mental and physical hell has also brought the lightness of freedom, a jettison of baggage I never even noticed before, an obliteration of worry and a blank landscapers map.  I see the greatest garden of my life coming with the joy of designing it with that fantastic soil I fell in love with.

A rock © Britt Conley

As for the rocks, they are my greatest gift.  They each hold a tear and story and now they get to be part of my conceptual garden.  They won’t be just random border markers anymore that have to be shoved aside. They get to be part of my rock garden and what ever my new earthen garden emerges to be.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Well I don’t know about you but I’ve found this very cathartic.  It’s a terrible post for a “Wordless Wednesday” but then again I have never posted a Wordless Wednesday or any other day in my life.  Laugh out loud!

So, it’s Spring and many of you are out there buying or planting seeds and filling your gardens while others are to busy.  My advice to any of you who have been too busy… put your garden back on your calendar, you never know what it will grow, even if with rocks and all.

Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. The Kaufman Hydrangea Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden
2. What’s going to be in your garden this year?
3. Winter at Norfolk Botanical Garden

I drew these flowers for my mother last year when she was also in the hospital. There is a reason one gives flowers when someone is not well, has passed on, married or become a Mom. I dedicate all my flower photographs and drawings to her. There simply are not enough flowers in the world some times. © Britt Conley

This Mother of Mine

Related posts:

1. Blooming again!
2. The Rock Garden: a Metaphor
3. The Bee is Back Officially!

Tomatoes and corn © Britt Conley - I absolutely love a farm fresh Summer tomato and freshly shucked sweet corn. Personally the more butter on the corn the better! A little salt on either of these two and It's a Summer extravaganza!

In the age of Dr. Oz, organic and all those healthy eating chef programs out there I wonder, have you taken up healthier gardens?  I’m not preaching.  I am not even lucky enough to have a garden!  But I’m curious.  How has all of this impacted individual gardeners?  Anyone out there start up a veggie garden in the past few years and actually made dinner with it?  How has your veggie or herb garden changed your eating life?  Well I’m asking for a reason…

Asparagus © Britt Conley - Also a rather big fan of Asparagus! It goes with just about everything. Anyone have a cool recipes?

Some of you may have noticed this Bee has slowed down a bit the past few months.  I’ve been sick and tired for a long while now.  I just got diagnosed and am going in for major abdominal surgery on Monday to fix it all!  I have a 4-6 week recovery time before getting back to my regular garden hopping life.  One of the decisions I’ve made for post op and beyond is a healthier and more organic lifestyle.  I am done being under the weather!  This Bee is ready for life 2.0!

Squash © Britt Conley - Now if you've known me on Facebook, you know I LOVE to cook. Squash is one of those wonderfully easy items to saute and serve when your entree is a bit more complicated.

So, I would love to hear about your veggie and herb gardens and perhaps get some recipes that might help me along.  I do have a great Farmers Market that actually sets up across the street from me on Saturday Mornings!  I will be hitting it on a regular basis as soon as I am up and walking.

Artichokes © Britt Conley - Ok, so I love Artichokes, but not the ones you get in restaurants and the sort. I like them simply steamed, peeled and dipped in a good olive oil mayonnaise!

Speaking of which. I will be having a bit more trouble doing The Photo Garden Bee during this time.  I have some great guest bloggers coming in who are all fantastic.  So please stop by and see what they all have to offer!  I told them, this is their day to do what you want!  They are a mix of bloggers and professional photographers.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with!  Please contact me if you want to guest blog for a day.  You can visit a garden, take some photos and write something about it  or share something garden or flower related from your own or someone else’s garden.

Brussel Sprouts © Britt Conley - I never thought I'd see the day, but I actually began enjoying brussel sprouts this year. Who knew! If you know of a great recipe that might even get my husband to like them, let me know! LOL. After all he's going to be eating better this year after all the new cooking as well!

Also, if any of you have a great veggie project coming up in your garden, take some pictures and send them in! Write up a short something about your garden and what it’s doing for your life.   Your entries will make it into the blog!  For shorter submissions, I’ll do a round up of what’s going on in your gardens around the country and the world!  I won’t be able to get out to my own gardens around the area, so I really would love to live vicariously through your worlds!  Please feel free to send me your stories!

Red Peppers © Britt Conley - Now I actually don't really love red peppers. I love crisp cool greens, and they have to be raw. That said, I am going to assume I may not know what can be done with those red or even green and yellow peppers. If you know something I don't let me know! I'll cook up every recipe sent! (non spicy version please). LOL.

I hope your are all having a blast with the sudden onset of Spring.  Break out those cameras!  Inform this Bee of the great world of fresh herb and veggie cooking and super gardening going on in your lives.  I would love to see what you’re up to!

Also: I will be updating how I’m doing on the The Photo Garden Bee’s Facebook page during this time.

‘Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. Today’s Featured Post: A Letter from The Photo Garden Bee
2. President Lincoln’s Heirloom Garden
3. The Rock Garden: a Metaphor

The Meadow © Britt Conley

I picked this image because walking through this meadow is always cathartic for me.  It exemplifies my changed life and the unknown road ahead.  I first walked through here in the Summer of ’09 while still working at USA Today.  I had the biggest smile on face because this gorgeous view truly symbolized the road I was creating with my upcoming venture, The Photo Garden Bee.  I was going to travel to gardens around the country, seeing more views just like this and sharing what is amazing about each place with anyone who cared to listen.  The road and the view were my new world.

I stopped by here again in the last weekend of November and smiled again because the future was bright and this lovely bit of land was mine to come and visit,  photograph and “Photo Garden Bee” in.  I was already heading down the path I created just like the path I was on this day the picture above was taken.  Then the very next Monday morning of that weekend I was laid off after almost 14 years.  My world hunkered down for a very cold Winter.

I headed back up here this past weekend and looked out over the end of winter’s barren landscape and smiled.  The road was obscured in the mass of matted grasses and twigs but the grey hills were clear, the trees still stood strong and I realized the path will be cut again soon enough.  I will be back on it in just few weeks when all new life will start growing.  It’s been a long and scary Winter but I made it just fine.  The meadow made it just fine.  We shall both soon meet again and capture each other’s lovely rise to the occasion.  Life is just too short not to.  It’s Spring and I have to grow the Bee and this is one of the places I’ll be on a regular basis doing just that, with camera in hand.

So this brings me to some of my favorite garden photographers and the ones I now send you to in order to find out what their favorite photo will be.  Right of the top there is Melissa who is a landscaper as well as a garden photographer who I mentioned above.  Melissa runs a great blog called Garden Shoots.   Her landscaping can be found at http://www.madgardener.net/ Her blog is insightful and fun!  I love her photography and hope some day to be as good!  She is well worth the daily bookmark!

But if I could pick just two other garden photography bloggers…Well…

…there is Brenda Haas at BGgarden.com She is both a garden photographer and blogger as well.  In fact she is kind of news garden blogger.  If you want to find out what is happening around the country, she is a great source!  And if you’re on Twitter, Brenda is a Twitter follower’s dream.  Always insightful and fun links and she re-tweets just about everyone who’s cool or has a cool item she wants to share.

Now another great photo blog I head to regularly is the Stone Art Blog.  It’s really cool. I love the blog because it’s artistic and idyllic and offers the most lovely artfully creative items with nature.  According to Sunny’s bio, the blog “…follows all things creative and artistic in the landscape and garden, along with some gardening tips and some garden construction tips, by Sunny Wieler, a landscaper / stonemasion / artist, living in Ireland.” This week’s post is about growing your own chairs.  Oh really – just go see it.  You have to see it!

Now there are other great garden blogs with awesome photography.  There is the Galloping Gardner, who does pretty much what I’m doing except in the UK, and she’s more well known and sees more gardens!  Her photography is great!  She already has done the photo meme so I can’t pass on to her but I can pass you onto her blog!  I really hope she and I can meet some day!

Another blog I enjoy for the photography is the Arizona Plant Lady.  She helps arid gardeners with how to tips and photos from her garden.  It’s a really nice read.  Noelle live is Phoenix and has decided to help fellow arid gardeners from mistakes she once made when she first moved there.  Now she is an expert.

As I get the time to go through all the blogs I’ll bring another day’s post to you with my suggestions for great fellow garden photography websites!  So if you don’t see your name yet. You will probably by in my next installment!

Yesterday, Erika and I traveled over to the Washington, D.C. Home and Garden Show.  We wandered about, took some notes and tons of photos! I somehow managed to walk away from the ‘do it yourself sushi kit’ while Erika was enjoying bird-related art and other items for sale.  Check back tomorrow to see some of the highlights!

‘Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. Some of my favorite “Daily Flower” Photographs
2. A Letter from the first Photo Garden Bee Tour!
3. Today’s Featured Post: A Letter from The Photo Garden Bee

Britt photographing the snow. Photo By Erika Malmgren

This Winter has been amazing.  It has easily beaten all the record books and is still far from over.  Every time we check the weather report the concept of possible snow droops our shoulders.   As a garden lover I am chomping at the bit for Spring sunshine.  But as a lover of nature I have been loving this Winter.   It’s been stunning.

Ready to head down the steps © Britt Conley

Erika, (my sister and the official assistant Photo Garden Bee, who edits my posts and travels on many of my garden visits) and I headed out after the big whopper storm that hit D.C. and tromped about the snow in our yard and along the street.

This snowman had a head, but it blew off with the winds. Someone used some of the downed magnolia branches for it's arms. The snow drifts have covered it's original figure. © Britt Conley

It was great.  It was also windy, blizzard conditions that stung our skin and a joy.  I laugh now, but come to think of it, we were laughing then as well.

Erika taking my picture as I take hers © Britt Conley

The street was blanketed in a white.  It took us over a week just to dig out.  I wonder how our local gardens fared?

Our street even had an abandoned car © Britt Conley

Unfortunately our superb and massive magnolia trees didn’t make it through the winds with the weight of the snow.

One of our great magnolia trees © Britt Conley

The huge magnolias are one of the main reasons I moved here all those years ago.  It’s sad to see  how much of them had either fallen away or had to be cut.

Downed parts of our precious magnolia © Britt Conley

These branches fill the entire lower limb areas of the tree.

More downed magnolias © Britt Conley

We are expecting more snow this week.  Hopefully not a lot.  Looks like we will do just fine.

Hopefully no more massive snows © Britt Conley

How did we manage through the big snow of 2010?  Mostly we stayed in doors.  I haven’t had a chance to see any gardens.  But that is all about to change… Spring is just over this last Winter hill and on the East coast, Spring is going to be celebrated indeed!

I for one have been couped up long enough.  Next week it’s time to start looking for some flowers…  Let’s do this Bee!

‘Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. Some of the best flowers of Spring are those that made it through Winter!
2. Has Spring Sprung? Why Yes it Has!
3. Winter Camellias at Norfolk Botanical Garden

The Daily Flower

I have wrapped up the first ever convention appearance of The Photo Garden Bee.  This past weekend, while my own town is blanketed in 30 inches of snow, I escaped to the slightly more hospitable Virginia Beach area to attend the Mid-Atlantic Home and Flower Show.   I’m now back at the hotel and piecing together what I’ve learned as photos from the weekend download into my mac.

The Bee arrives © Britt Conley

Lesson One:  Just because the event has the words Home and Flower in the title doesn’t mean people are there to buy pictures of flowers for their home.

Signing each print © Britt Conley

I came to the show with high hopes and almost 300 personally signed, printed and matted photographic prints.  Printing and painstakingly assembling these took more than a week. They filled eight boxes.  I knew something was amiss when after the first 10:00am – 9:00pm, 11-hour show day, I had sold precisly zero prints.  As my husband sometimes says, this “raised a red flag.”   This is probably the first time in my life that I have been truly underwhelmed.  I mean literally, I was knocked over by how unsuccessful this was.

The Photo Display © Britt Conley

What I didn’t know before arriving at the convention was that I would be surrounded by every manner of info-mercial merchandise from the Swiss Star Peeler and Sham-wow to “space age” mops and garden hoses.  And what wasn’t info-mercial related included everything from landscaping equipment, gutter systems, hot tubs, satellite dishes, and even actual full size, below-ground swimming pools upended on their sides for full viewing.  And, of course, almost 300 personally signed, printed and matted photographic prints of flowers.

Britt talking about the photographs with two wonderful women who loved the photographs. They helped make the show great. © Steve Conley

Lesson Two:  Not all successes are measured in sales.  Thank God!

One of the first people to offer some advice was Jim from Virginia Gardener Magazine.  He is great.  We talked repeatedly over the weekend and he gave me tons of suggestions on steps I should take to help sell my prints.  I can’t thank him enough.  I also met Peter, an incredibly talented craftsman who was set up across from me who’s done this for years.  Like Jim, he was a wealth of information.  I particularly appreciated his laid back approach to selling and letting his work speak for itself.  He clearly has an incredible attention to detail and love of what he does. (I’ll be adding links to Jim and Peter’s websites when I get back).  In addition to Jim and Peter, I met many of other vendors who had such great stories and products and advice to share.

Also, I want to give an extra special thanks to the one person who bought two of my prints today.  I never thought I would be so happy to have sold two, but boy this still makes me smile.  I was so besides myself I probably looked like I had just won the lottery!

I also met dozens of new people who stopped by the table and picked up a card and signed up for The Photo Garden Bee mailing list.  We talked about gardening, the snow storm, and of course, photography.  Footballs fans may have been all about the Super Bowl this weekend, but we photographers know the big rivalry will always be Canon vs. Nikon and it was still alive and well at the convention this weekend.

And then there is Pearl Fryar.  When I first ran across Pearl Fryar’s story on the web I was instantly a fan!  Pearl Fryar is a topiary sculptor who took his humble yard and turned it into an international gardening destination with nothing but sweat and sheers.  I have been wanting to meet this man and feature his garden on The Bee for months.  Following the first half day of complete un-success, I was taking a break from the non-action and feeling a little sorry for myself on the way to locating a comforting cup of tea.  On my way, I saw a large gathering of people who were listening to some guy give a demonstration.  It took just a second for me to realize this wasn’t some guy!  This was a man named Pearl!  One of my true inspirations while I have been on this Bee journey.  It was a total thrill to watch him sculpt and hear his story and shake his hand.  That was one of the great highlights of my entire Bee experience.  He reminded me that this weekend is but a small bump in the road ahead.

Pearl Fryar © Britt Conley

Lesson Three:  Pearl Fryer is right!

After selling zero prints on day one and zero prints on day two, I broke out Pearl Fryers magnificent quote, “There’s always gonna be obstacles.  The thing is, you don’t let those obstacles determine where you go.”  Overall, I may have failed at selling my photographs at this show show but It’s my dream and I am undeterred.

Lesson Four: The Swiss make fantastic Peelers!

I have been brain-washed.  For three days I listened to the same, 15-minute,  word-for-word, sales pitch, over and over again, booming from a small speaker system five feet away.  The Photo Garden Bee booth was set up next to Larry the salesman for the Swiss Star Peeler.  You know it slices, it dices and it will change your life!  Trust me and aunt Minnie!

Lesson five: I am not a sales person.

To their credit, these people are great at selling.  Nobody woke up that morning expecting to pay admission price to an event where they would pay $30 for a potato peeler.  Larry made peeling potatoes look like it would be fun.  I can’t tell if that’s evil or great.  I just know it’s not for me.  The events I need to go to in the future are places where the art work sells itself.  I really hope those people get $30 worth of joy from peeling potatoes.

Britt at the show © Steve Conley

Lesson Six: My next show will be better.
As far as sales go, that shouldn’t be too hard : )

Packing up and leaving the show © Steve Conley

Thanks for the great people at the Mid-Atlantic Home and Flower Show.  The flowers on display were amazing.  The entire exhibitor experience was great.  I was fortunate to have this as my first show.  It wasn’t the show, it simply was that people weren’t prepared for photographs.

I would also like to give a very special thank you to my husband Steve.  He spent eleven hours each day making me laugh in the booth when things were bleak.  He has been incredibly supportive and frankly he made this a great weekend to remember.

Britt and Steve Conley © Steve Conley

So what does this mean and where do I go from here?  Well I honestly don’t know.  LOL.    I’ve heard, “if at first, you don’t succeed… try, try, again.”  I intend on living on this motto until it works.  I’ll be heading back home and researching Art Fairs next.  But first a stop at Norfolk Botanical Garden… we’re right here!

‘Til Tomorrow,

Britt

Related posts:

1. Some Garden Shopping Buzz from The Mid-Atlantic Home and Garden Show!
2. It’s Flower, Garden and Home Show Season around the U.S. Part I.
3. Celebrate a Symphony of Spring at this weekend’s Maryland Home & Garden Show!

The Photo Garden Bee bundles up or the Holidays

Well, I’ve finally updated the missing days from not having reliable internet during the first ever Photo Garden Bee Tour!  Note to self.  Make sure I have internet for the next tour in 2010!  Below is my post from the road explaining just why I hadn’t been present for a few days.

Hello everyone!,

I know it’s not like me to not have posted anything for the past few days.  It’s actually the internet here at the hotels!  I keep trying to post but the connection has been so flakey that it won’t even take a photo.  So I have content waiting but will have to wait just one more day to get back to my home computer and load up the last few days of great Bee finds!

We have internet now but it’s 2:30 am and we just arrived at the hotel.  This Bee needs her sleep before heading home tomorrow.  I can’t wait to fill you all in on how amazing the gardens and the people I’ve met have been!

Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. The Photo Garden Bee Tour visits Walt Disney World!
2. Today’s Featured Post: A Letter from The Photo Garden Bee
3. The Photo Garden Bee Lifts off in a Hot air balloon over Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.