Potted and benched Himalayan Primroses ( P. denticulata) at this weekend’s National Primrose Society show held at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA.
This past week and weekend, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting Chris Chadwell, noted plant explorer, expert on Himalayan plants and Secretary and Editor of the Sino-Himalayan Plant Association. We were fortunate to have been able to host Chris in our home these past few days, as we was asked to be our keynote speaker at the National Primrose Society national exhibition which which our New England Chapter of the APS hosted at nearby Tower Hill Botanic Garden.
Chris is a full-time plant explorer, and having been to Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal; and the Himalaya 25 times, he was able to share much information, as well as images and tales of his many adventures in this most beautiful and plant rich part of the world. He is very knowledgab;le and was willing to provide advice to those of us interesting in trekking there ourselves, as well as to offer help in planning such a journey. His presentation inspired many of us with photos of rare high elevation primula as well as other plants from the Himalaya. At the end of his presentation, he was most kind in offering Joe, Rodney and I with scarves and hats from Nepal, which we greatly enjoyed.
The night before, we hosted a party for Mr. Chadwell and for all of the attendees from the American Primrose Society. We lit up the yellow magnolias from below with spot lights, and since the royal wedding happened earlier in the day, we required all ladies to wear hats, and I made some pub food, mainly Steak and Guinness pie and Chicken and Leek pie, plus many other treats.
Lighting is important, and the spotlights that we usually use only in the winter after snowstorms, lit up the yellow magnolias in a way I could never have imagined.
Elisabeth Zander from the Berkshire Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society stroll our garden, on her way to the greenhouse.
In the studio, I made a giant arrangement with yellow magnolia ( goldfinch), forsythia, pine and Japanese Maple branches.
Rodney Barker, our chapter president (seated) wears his Tibetan hat and ceremonial silk scarves, as I do as presented to us by Chris Chadwell.
A round-table discussion on collecting rare plants from the Himalaya lead by Chris Chadwell at the National Primrose Society meeting held at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, in Boylston, MA.
Party images from our cocktail party we hosted on Friday night for Mr. Chadwell and all out-of-town visitors attending the National Primrose Society show. British meat pies lead the menu, along with spring greens and lots of wine.
We asked that all guests wear hats, because our theme was ‘Royal Wedding’, which most attendees watched earlier in the morning on Friday. It was fun to see that most every one of our 50 plus guests, wore a hat!
The three judges at the National Show included, from left, Mary Mallow, Marco Polo Stufano and Kris Fenderson, on the right.,
This was one of those busy weekends that included lots of parties and visitors, even fellow blogger and follower of this blog, Tony Bielaczyc, Deputy Editor at Martha Stewart Living, along with Marco Polo Stufano, former director of Wave Hill Botanic gardens visited the show at Tower Hill as well as own home garden and greenhouse later in the afternoon on Saturday ( so crazy and messy!!, but these are the sort of folks who can see through the junk to see the plants!). So, clearly, you can see why I haven’t had a lot of time to blog over the past few days! It was a fun, busy, and jam-packed weekend, with lots of visitors to the garden, and little time to even check email. And now, back to work!
Sounds like a wonderful time! I love the idea of the hats and the centerpiece is stunning! I truly enjoy your blog, keep up the good work!