Grab Bag - Vertical Gardening, Blogging...and Spa Products?

 It’s been a year since Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces came out, but instead of slowing down, vertical gardening keeps gaining momentum. In the past year I’ve spoken to garden clubs and symposiums across the country on the topic, with an emphasis on how home gardeners can easily and affordably add vertical elements to their own gardens. Most of the talks are closed to the general public, but the following Northern California venues are open to all:

 

Playful Digs' sister-store, Playful Gardens

Playful Digs in Napa, Saturday, March 31 from 10:30 to 12:00. How lucky am I? Not only do I get to speak on my favorite topic, but I get to do it in the beautiful Napa Valley, one of my favorite places to visit. I’ll be at Playful Digs, the newly opened companion to the popular Playful Gardens. The store features creative approaches to both indoor and outdoor gardening, with an emphasis on unique and repurposed items. Why do I get the feeling I’m going to end up spending my entire speaking fee on a shopping trip there? The article about the store and the talk is on pages 20-21 of the current issue of Napa Valley Marketplace – just click on the image of the magazine to the right of the page. Note: the correct address is 1201 First Street in Napa.

 

The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, Tuesday, May 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. I’ll actually begin with a powerpoint presentation and book signing across the street at the always lovely Gardens at Heather Farms then we’ll all head over to the Ruth Bancroft Garden for a hands-on demonstration on making succulent bundles for living art projects - and everyone will make one to take home with them, using cuttings from the garden.

If you’d prefer to learn about vertical gardening from the comfort of your own couch, link up with me this Wednesday, March 7 from 11:00 to 12:00 as I cohost the popular Landscape Chat on Twitter. To participate, simply search for the hashtag #landscapechat, and join the party!

 

Jessy - Habitat Design, Ayla - Berkeley Gardens , Michelle - From Seed to Table, Claire - An Alameda Garden

Of course, I’ve got plenty of interests besides vertical gardening – including in no particular order, garden design, blogging and spa products. Last month I was lucky enough to have all three come together for me, when I attended a garden bloggers happy hour hosted by Jessy Berg and the rest of the gang at Habitat Design blog. Jessy is new to blogging, but has jumped in with both feet. To connect with other Bay Area garden bloggers, she put together this little shindig for all of us to get acquainted and share ideas. Not only did I get the chance to meet fun new bloggers, but I also met Michelle from Seed to Table in person! I’ve been a fan of her blog for years, and if you’re interested in growing your own food and enjoy the occasional mouth-watering recipe made with garden-fresh produce, get over to her blog NOW!

 

Cabbage Braised with Italian Sausage. Yum!

I’ve known Jessy since my design school days at UC Berkeley, and was intrigued to learn she’s taken her design business in a new direction, and is offering landscape plans online. If you’d like to learn more, you can check her out here.

My haul from the Dirty Girl Garden Apothecary store

Also at the event was Jenn from the very popular Dirty Girl Gardening blog. Jenn recently published her first ebook, Botanically Belize, (download it for free from Lulu) and was kind enough to offer us all a sampling from her line of natural botanicals, Garden Apothecary. When my sample arrived, it turned out to be much more than I expected!

So if I'm a bit slow getting my next blog post up, you'll know it's because I'm busy practicing for my upcoming presentations.

Unless I'm busy soaking away my stress...

Susan

 

Comments

[HabitatDesigns]

Great post Susan! We're so glad you could make it to our little shindig. And also thanks for the reminder - we need to order our free samples from Dirty Girl Gardening too :) Have a great time at your upcoming talks - we might have to join you for #landscapechat.
- Jessy, Bonnie & Sarah

Oh I hope you can! A friendly face...er...tweeter, is ALWAYS appreciated!

[dirty girl gardening]

love it... it was such a great meet up! i'm stoked you are enjoying the products... those are all my favorites that i use everyday!

xoxo

Thanks again! I was so excited when the package came!

[Michelle]

It was such a treat to get to meet you in person too! And you say such nice things about my blog. You are a dear. I wish I lived closer to Napa or Walnut Creek, I would be at one of your talks in a flash. Perhaps you'll give a talk down my way one of these days. Or, if I could learn this Twitter thing overnight....

Good luck with your presentations, I know you'll be a big hit.

I would LOVE to give a talk in Carmel! or Montery. or Pebble Beach. :-) Who knows? I may get an invite from a cool garden club in your hood!

[Pam/Digging]

So glad to hear of all your success since your book came out! The talks sound great, but so does the blogger meet-up. I always treasure those, whether they occur at home or at the annual Garden Bloggers Fling.

The fling was one of the topics! Several of the bloggers at the get together are planning on attending.

[Dawn Engel]

Yay! It was so much fun to get to talk to you and all the other bloggers at Jessy's meet-up! I'm hoping to see everyone soon at the SF garden show!

I'm really looking forward to the SF show too!