Can I just start out by saying how much I enjoy attending the Garden Blogger Flings…? Even if I cringe a bit, sorry, at the term “Fling.” While I have yet to post about Asheville (2012) and San Francisco (2013) – and don’t get me wrong, they too were amazing – I had a such a great time in Portland, Oregon (PDX) for this year’s round of garden touring and plant oogling with 80 or so fellow gardenerds. While it’s a bit intense and somewhat exhausting for the introverted amongst us to try and play catch up with everyone, let alone meet & greet the newcomers, it’s also incredibly invigorating and inspiring to hang out with them while touring so many wonderful spaces in three jam-packed days. Kind of how reading the previous sentence tires you out 😉
The PDX Fling crew (Scott, Loree, Jane, Heather & Ann, along with their spouses, friends, and fuzzy four-legged creatures) did an outstanding job! We toured all over Portland to see specialized nurseries, private and public gardens, and the headquarters of Timber Press. The weather even surprised us with blue skies, hot temps in the mid-90’s, and just a bit of thunder and rain on the last day to ensure we experienced the “Portlandia” effect.
Our first event was a “pre-fling” cocktail party at Pomarius Nursery. Proprietor Peter Lynn welcomed us to his artfully arranged space full of interesting foliage plants and architectural accoutrement. First to distract us from plant shopping was the Tamale Boy food truck, beckoning us with giant tamales wrapped in steamy banana leaves. Libations were ready, on ice, under one of the shade structures. Nice!
We wandered the many plant rooms of Pomarius…
We stopped to sit and chat with old friends and new…
And we dined under the light of the setting sun.
Portlandians Ann (Amateur Bot-ann-ist) and Kate (formerly of the blog Plantwise – now Plant Chronicles and Fancies) co-conspired the wearing of beautiful, locally-grown floral arrangements for the hair. It made many of us want to get married again. Or at least participate in the #flowersonyourhead movement. Next year I hope to come more prepared… recall how some donned fascinators in Seattle (#gbfling11), perhaps it’s becoming tradition.
Wandering the grounds made me wistful for a specialized nursery of my own…
If only my fair city had such an offering…
I was immediately drawn to this cast of characters… cause really, these are my people, can’t you tell…?!
The nursery had its own army of honey mavens, swarming a somewhat Swiss (? Belgian? Welch?) inspired hive design.
Adjacent to the nursery was a trio of modern buildings housing an architectural firm appropriately suited to the nursery’s aesthetic.
A tower above balances a sunken garden below…
I could envision a live+work situation here
Such a well-hewn gate with hearty detail…
As we boarded the bus to return to the hotel nursery owner Peter grabbed his own photo of the garden paparazzi lucky to spend an evening on his grounds. I hear he made several time lapse videos of the event as well… thankfully we were all on our best behavior.
If I do say, this was the best start to a garden bloggers fling yet. The setting, the refreshments, the leisurely time to wander around with others amongst plants. We all left with smiles on our faces. Whatever may the next days hold?
transplant studio 
I so agree, the best start to a Fling …yet!
Yes Gail, here’s to next year!
Thanks for the link to their time lapse – never would’ve seen it, but am now following them. I’m learning so much about the places we “flung” in hindsight from everyone’s posts. Adds a whole new layer, plus I always love your photos.
Thanks Vicki. With so much to see in such a short time, it’s fun to see what everyone else was captured by, and info/images/videos found afterwards 😉
Pomarius was an awesome start to a super terrific weekend! The food and the lovely scenery were a balm to my travel weariness. Pomarius had some great statuary and fountains that I was totally lusting after. We don’t have any nurseries (that I know of) in these parts that carry that caliber of garden art, but I’ll keep looking.
Hey Ally, at least you’re closer to Austin than I am, where there’s lots of garden treasures to find. I never got to it before it closed, but I’ve heard marvelous things about James David’s “Gardens.” I thought another group of folks were going to reopen it at some point, perhaps those plans haven’t yet come to light.
How fun to read your recap, Andrea. I know what you mean about “Fling.” It all started, of course, because we called the first one Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, and then it just stuck. I thought we might change the name after Chicago Fling but was convinced by a sensible advisory member that we already had a brand, and better stick with it. So we dropped “Spring” but just have to keep Flinging! 🙂
Yes Pam, it’s probably best to stick with the brand! It’s fun. Here’s to all the flings that have flung, and all those yet to come 😉
I missed the pre-fling (air plane delays) gathering thank you for catching me up! Your post is excellent!!! What fun we did have flinging! It was such an action packed experience I am still walking on air. I hope you come down to Houston…I have a few places I would love to share with you.
Thanks Laurin, glad you were able to experience your first fling, even if you missed the “pre-fling” event. Would love to come see some of your designs in Houston, I’ll let you know the next time I head that way.
I love, love, love to hear about the feelings of another introvert!
Love the pictures of the evening light on that beautiful place.
Thank you Skyler & Allan! Hope to see you at future flings too.
Great photos Andrea, I’m so glad you enjoyed this night…it truly was magical. Oh and I loved seeing Peter having fun too, I hoped he was, such a lovely man and so welcoming to us all.
Thanks Loree – I hope you’ve recovered by now. And thanks again for the awesome Plant Lust canvas bags. They’re stellar. Hope everyone has looked into what it’s all about – and if they haven’t yet, they should check it out:
Plant Lust
Andrea, you’re such a great reporter. It was lovely to see you at the fling.
Thanks Dee… it was great to see you too even if there wasn’t enough time to really connect. I was so glad to see you in Austin for your book tour. One of these days I’ll get up to OK to ramble around with you, for reals.
I’m not an introvert but believe it or not, need to hang back and check out the scene before I jump in. I loved wandering the Japanese gardens with you. Pomarius was just the coolest. Awesome start!
Thanks Tammy. I mentioned “introvert” based on a fling conversation I had with some bloggers a few years ago. Seems lots of our attendees are more of the quiet type – not all, of course, and that’s a good thing! But taking in all the people, matching blogs to names, having non-stop energetic conversations, and noting/photographing all the visual garden goodies makes it easy to wear anyone out, regardless of where on the introvert/extrovert spectrum one falls. After a while you’ve got to hang back, put the cameras and phones down, and take it all in. I’d love to go back to the Japanese Garden some day too. It was nice to meet and chat with you there!
Sorry I missed it, especially after reading your post.
This post is great! And I´m even in a picture :)! I´m sad I missed most of the nursery as I was trying to meet people and chatting. I´m introvert and coming from another language speaking country made me very nervous before the meeting at Pomarius, but everybody, included you, were sooooo nice that it wasn’t that difficult to talk with people. I was really happy to meet so many great people. 🙂