Not all gardeners are nice people

Does that statement surprise you?  It shouldn't. It is in the same category as not all handicapped people are nice, or not all old people are nice.  However, it never fails to surprise me when I meet a gardener who isn't nice.  I expect them all to be "salt of the earth" and "shining examples to us all" when in fact, they are just like you and me (although I'm not suggesting that you're not nice).

I'd like to give you a couple of examples of pillars of horticultural society who I didn't find particularly nice people, but as I am a nice person, I will not reveal their names, just tell a few anecdotes to amuse you.

Firstly, there's the name dropper (ND). We went on a tour with ND during that year when we visited many gardens, lead by different people, including ND.  Organized tours are great as you get to see some private gardens that you might otherwise never have a chance to visit, but I didn't care for ND's way of leading. As the bus drove to our destinations, he kept pointing out en route where famous people live/lived. This was lost on me as I'm not very good with remembering names (even famous ones) and so it didn't impress me. He also didn't give out any handouts, and we were forced to gather round and listen to him pontificate for 20 minutes before being allowed to explore on our own. No, I will not be going on a tour with him again. This being said, he does have a lovely garden (yes, he included his own garden on the tour ... how about that for ego?).  Oh, by the way, I've since learned that he's not everyone's cup of tea, so I feel somewhat vindicated in my opinion.

Although I didn't care for ND's style of leading a tour, I must admit he has a beautiful garden and he was also very generous, giving all of the group hand reared Dogwood seedlings (ours didn't survive). Here are some photos from ND's garden. (Note:  The statue above is also from ND's garden).

This is a lovely use of plants. The burgundy Japanese maple on the right hand side contrasts beautifully with the chartreuse of the Hakonechloa macra - Japanese Forest Grass on the left hand side.  Repeating the Hakonechloa plantings leads the eye purposefully down the slope.

The same planting from a different angle.

And from another angle. This time you can see how the Japanese Maple is placed at the top of the pond, and the Hakonechloa becomes a "water fall" of grass tumbling down the slope to the pond.  This is a really gorgeous focal point in the garden.

Secondly, there was the Paragon (P) and husband (H). Now P is also a major player in Toronto's horticultural circles. You see her name everywhere, and 4 times a year she has an open house at her garden. We visited in September, and it was a really strange experience. I didn't actually have much contact with P, but we did with H, and he was very disagreeable ... David's actually words were, "he was a very nasty little man" (my David doesn't mince words).  Throughout the entire visit, H tried to sell you something. If you asked a question about a plant, his answer would go something like... "we had some of those for sale in the Spring but we've got something else you might be interested in." That's ok; these folks obviously felt they needed to have some recompense for allowing complete strangers to come into their garden, but it made you feel like he wasn't really that into gardening.  And then when David mentioned Connon Nurseries (as a location where he'd spotted one of the rare conifers that H told us we'd have real problems finding anywhere else) he slurred them. In all my experience with nurseries and gardeners, that was a first. This was the last straw. I don't think David would be very happy with me if I ever bought anything from these people.

And their garden. Well, there was a lot of tender plants that were either throw away or brought in for the winter, and we got the feeling that many plants were just popped in the earth in pots so they could be easily moved or "sold". And there were many trees that were hard pruned to keep them small enough to fit into the suburban lot.  This happens ... I know, we all plant things too close together, but to see a Meta sequoia so badly pruned made me sad.  And when compared to ND's garden, there is no focal point. Just look at the photos and see for yourself.

A view of the back garden, with pond in the foreground. Behind the pond is the alpine garden.  I think one of the problems in this garden is that there is no restraint.  You don't know where to look as there is too much of everything and no real focal point.

The lawn provides a quiet place to rest your eyes, but otherwise, there's far too much going on in this small space.

On the whole though, most of the gardening people we meet aren't like that. We've met some truly charming and generous people in our travels ... that's for another blog post though, and rest assured, I will be naming names!