The garden in summer is what we all dream of: some down time, some play time, fresh flavors, fragrances, and of course, flowers and fun.
This week we revel in the beautiful chaos of a garden inspired life with an Oklahoma accent in the company of Linda Vater, author of The Elegant & Edible Garden, and founder of Potager Blog on Instagram and Garden Inspired Living on Youtube.
Linda is exuberantly-spirited and as as well-known for her former storybook Oklahoma garden – its expansive front garden and deliciously designed back garden potager (formal vegetable garden) - as she is for her extensive and supremely elegant collection of homegrown topiary, her sense of style generally, and her wonderful sense of humor. All with an Oklahoma accent..
Now in residence in her new-old Cottage on the Hill garden, Linda is fashion-minded, fabulous, and fun in the second of our gardener’s summer-vacation themed conversations.
In addition to her beautiful The Elegant & Edible Garden, Linda is rolling out a beautiful new garden journal this fall which is available for pre-order now (I have always wanted to say this: YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!) Click to pre-order yours HERE!
From Linda: "I am a self-taught garden designer, blogger, and lifestyle influencer who also writes and produces garden media for TV, magazines, Instagram, and YouTube. I’ve lived and gardened at my 1935 English Tudor home in Oklahoma City for the past thirty years. My garden has been featured in numerous national and local magazines and has been toured more times than I can count.
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I look at EVERYTHING… my home, family, travel, and life’s biggest questions through a gardening lens. Gardening has helped me raise two boys, be a better friend and neighbor, learn resilience, and at times saved my sanity. It is simultaneously one of the most joyous and frustrating things I do. Join me on the adventure that is gardening."
Enjoy!
All images courtesy of Linda Vater, all rights reserved.
You can follow Linda Vater online at: www.lindavater.com/
HERE IS THIS WEEK'S TRANSCRIPT by Doulos Transcription Service:
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JOIN US again next week, when we welcome back to the program Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener, who joins us to share more about her newest book: Wildscape, Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory wonders of Nature. That’s next week – listen in.
Speaking of Plants and Place is on summer vacation - back in August!
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Recent Garden Conservancy news includes the announcement of the second two episodes in the Sissinghurst through the seasons series – the Fall episode airing on Thursday September 21st and the Winter Episode airing on December 7th; as well as the announcement for the release of a new film trailer which highlights their forthcoming documentary about the Anne Spencer House and Garden in Virginia – the trailer and registration for the Sissinghurst series are both up at the Gardenconservancy.org now and the full Anne Spencer House & Garden documentary will be released later this year – should be excellent. And of course, registration is also now open for the Conservancy’s inaugural Garden Futures Summit being held at the New York Botanical Garden on Sept 29th and in gardens across NYC and surrounds on Sept 30th – can’t wait to gather then. Go to GardenConservancy.org for more information.
Thinking out loud this week:
I am kind of feeling like we need to queue the song from the musical Oklahoma right about now, what about you?
But I also have New York – and Maine and Cincinnati on my mind right now too, because I making plans to be in all three places this August and September and I am looking forward to it. You can always see more details – dates, times, specific locations for my upcoming talks over at the website, Cultivatingplace.com/events. I will be speaking on my own at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay on Aug 31st and at Cincinnati’s Civic Garden Center on September 7th, but I will be in great garden community in New York at the Garden Conservancy’s inaugural Garden Futures Summit on Sept 29th and 30th - a two-day, in-person event that looks to sustain the remarkable passion and interest in gardening today by presenting a selection of the most exciting ideas shaping the future of gardens and society at large. The Summit will focus on three essential topics within contemporary gardening: environment, community, and culture and I am so proud to be the session chair around community with session speakers including Ivi Diamantopoulou, Jaffer Kolb, Sam Stewart-Halevy of New Affiliates
Adam Greenspan PWP Landscape Architects
Peter Lefkovits Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Nicole Thomas Urban Health Lab
Whether it’s on the coast of Maine, in Downtown Cincinnati, in New York City or at any of my other upcoming events, I look forward to meeting many of you – please please come up introduce yourself and say hi.
ALSO: My main take away from this conversation with Linda Vater? Have more fun, have more flair – and maybe be a little bolder about it all. No one is every going to accuse me of not being earnest enough – but the fun factor, I think I’m going work on that during my summer garden vacation. I say this with a big smile on my face people – it’s good to know our strengths and growth edges – don’t you agree? And really we need more of both oddly enough – gravity AND fun. They are not mutually exclusive in a garden day or life.
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The CP team includes producer and engineer Matt Fidler, with weekly tech and web support from Angel Huracha, and this summer we're joined by communications intern Sheila Stern. We’re based on the traditional and present homelands of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. Original theme music is by Ma Muse, accompanied by Joe Craven and Sam Bevan.
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