Erica Glasener of HGTV's A Gardener's Diary

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/croatoan_found/512177446/

Last Friday night I got to hang out with Erica Glasener, host of HGTV's A Gardener's Diary. Yep, it was me, her, and about fifty other folks! Erica came down from Atlanta to give a lecture at the Garden Club here in Macon.

She is just as sweet in person as she is on the show and I really enjoyed hearing her speak and watching her slide show. I recognized several photos from gardens she's visited on the show including Lucinda Hutson's garden which I absolutely love.

Erica spoke about creating a four season garden here in Georgia. Now this is a topic after my own heart! This is what I've wanted forever but what I couldn't articulate. I simply didn't have the words to express this desire until I read Mrs. Greenthumbs. She was the one who explained it in terms I could understand. Mrs. Greenthumbs explained my want, which is similar to hers, to have multiple climaxes in the garden. Y'all know what I mean! I want color to bloom and be beautiful in my garden all year round, not just in spring when you can throw a few annuals in the ground to march in rows like little soldiers. No, I want a proper cottage garden with oodles of perennials that bloom year round and flop around on top of each other. Erica was kind enough to share with us some of her favorites and she even provided a handout with plants broken down by blooming season.

Erica has a bit of a sense of humor too. She doesn't mind adding non-native plants to her garden. I agreed with her when she said "nothing is native to asphalt." :) Like me, she's also anti Crepe Murder. That's where folks cut those beautiful trees down to sticks in the winter. Who on earth came up with that idea anyway? Erica encouraged us to personalize our gardens and to mimic nature whenever possible. If you're in or traveling through the Atlanta area then Erica recommends shopping at the Garden Hood plant nursery.

Overall, it was a fun and informative evening. But I saved the best for last because that sweet Erica brought prizes! She gave her lecture standing next to a huge beautiful bouquet of flowers and fluff picked from her garden. And she also had three small potted hydrangeas to give away. The first two were snapped up mighty quick by a couple of brainy folks who answered her plant species questions from her bouquet. I just sat there racking my brains thinking to myself "uh, asparagus fern, maybe?" It was not asparagus fern.

Anyway, to make a long story endless, for the last plant prize Erica asked for an audience member whose birthday was today. Nada. Ok, how about someone whose birthday was this week, she asked. Nothin'. Alrighty then, who has my birthday, October 16th, she asked. Not a peep. Erica was stumped! The audience started calling out other plant giveaway question ideas. None of them floated her boat. Finally, Erica was thinking quick on her feet and she said, ok, who here is new to gardening?

Well folks, I'm pretty sure there was less than a nanosecond for my brain to process this thought and run down to my arm because I shot my hand up in the air so fast I'd swear I'd been through some sort of space, time continuum. Yes, I thought, yes, I AM new to gardening! And because I had strategically placed myself directly in Erica's line of site, in the middle aisle seat at the back, her eyes landed right on me. That's when she said some sort of pretty words about giving it to that "enthusiastic young lady there". Yes, Erica, that was me and I really, really love my prize. You must have known, surely, that hydrangeas are my absolute favorite plants. I'm sure you must have known that for months I've been planning to install several in my front yard. And, surely Erica, you must have known that as a relatively new gardener I could use all the help I could get in the form of a fabulous plant aptly named Hydrangea Invincebelle Spirit. Yes, Erica, I'm sure you must have known all of this when you kept asking your questions, waiting for me to come up with the answer. Because now, you see, I have every desire in the world to keep that plant alive, to plant it in the ground and see it grow, to photograph the beautiful blooms in the cottage garden of my dreams. Thanks Erica, for the inspiration!

Comments

[Bede Sisters]

I'm so jealous! I wish I could have been there. I have Month-by-Month Gardening in GA, signed by Walter Reeves. He assured me the advice applies to me.

The book I want is one that says, "Okay, it's March and since you failed to do what I said in January, here's how to fix it."

[teresa]

I'm jealous that you can even consider a 4-season garden. Only snowmen and snowwomen grow in the gardens here for a good part of the year.

Congrats on the hydrangea. May it bring many blooms to you!

[31everything]

I wish I had a green thumb... most things I plant die :( Thanks for sharing

[Alan]

Great review of this lovely presentation at Macon State College.

I enjoyed it and you must have had to be in attendance to appreciate the slides and the oral presentation. Sorry for anyone who missed it, but there is a lecture series next February.

[Pamela H. Blacklidge]

Hey Erica.

When is your HGTV show returning?

In the alternative, would you please consider selling DVDs of your different seasons?

I cannot get enough of your Gardener's Diary.