Asheville Fling 2012 Itinerary

The basic itinerary of the Asheville Fling 2012 is listed by day below. Each day will have it's own post (still to come) to fill in a bit more detail and can be reached by the link at the bottom of each days listing. (still to come) It is pretty well set in stone, but life is life and stone can crack. Slight change is always a possibility.

Thursday May 17th and Monday May 21st have short overflow events for bloggers who may come early or stay late to spend more time enjoying Asheville and the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Thursday May 17^th

RSVP Tour Sow True Seed – 1 to 5 pm

Happy hour meet and greet – Tressa’s downtown – 5pm to 7:30 pm

Explore downtown for dinner

More detail here.

Friday May 18^th

West Asheville Gardens

Wamboldtopia – Christopher Mello’s Garden – Burton Street Community Peace Garden - Sunny Point Café - 9:15am–11:30am

Lunch 12 Bones/Curve Studios with ice cream from The Hop 11:45am – 1:00pm

North Carolina Arboretum – Author led native wildflower walk available 1:30pm – 3:45pm

BB Barnes Nursery 4:15 pm – 5:30pm - Back to hotel.

Explore downtown for dinner

More detail here.

Saturday May 19^th

Peter and Jasmin Gentling Garden 9:15am – 11am

Lunch Laurey’s Catering 11:15am – 12:30pm

Biltmore Estate Gardens/ Conservatory 1pm – 4pm - Back to hotel

Dinner Masonic Temple with ice cream from the Hop 6pm – 8:30pm

Blogger Discussion post dinner - finish by 10pm

More detail here.

Sunday May 20^th

Haywood Community College Gardens 9:45am – 11am

Bonnie Brae and Ku’ulei ‘Aina, two mountain top gardens 12pm – 3:30pm

Lunch catered by the Sweet Onion on the mountain - 12 pm

Wine and beverages - 2pm

Plant development forum 2pm - while you sip wine and beverages

Back to hotel 3:30pm

Explore downtown for dinner

More detail here.

Monday May 21^st

White Gate Inn garden on stroll to

RSVP Continental breakfast edible garden tour at Nan Chase’s 9:00 am – 11am

Explore broader Asheville on your own with list of suggestions

More detail here.

Down By The River

We will go for some catered 12 Bones BBQ in a beautiful garden setting near the railroad tracks.



The Asheville 2012 Fling itinerary and official registration form will be posted by mid week.

Stay tuned.

You Have Been Very Patient

Thank you so very much. Here's a little update.

Our planning team has the schedule of gardens, arboretums, estates and nurseries we will visit pretty well set. Lunches and one group dinner are lined up. Social hours with libations are in the mix. We'll even be having fresh homemade ice cream. Buses will take us to all the events scheduled each day. Times will be set aside for blogger talk. Short side events off schedule may be available with a courtesy RSVP to the host to gauge attendance.

Now we add up the costs, divide by the estimated number of attendees and seek out sponsors who may like to contribute.

Once we have a pretty solid idea of the costs a registration form will be posted for you to fill out, officially sign up to attend and send in the money. That should be coming before the end of January. One fee will cover all group costs. I feel very confident that the group cost will come in below $125 per person for all three days of planned events.

At the same time we will be posting each days itinerary to give you a better idea of what to expect and if you need to make any adjustments depending on your individual arrival or departure time. For early arrivals and folks who linger we will have a list of walkable from the hotel and other garden sites to visit in the Asheville area that we just couldn't stuff into an already full day. I want you all to have a little breathing room each day and not over do it.

Hotel rooms can be booked now. Click on hotel in the top link bar to access that post and a link to the hotel reservations is there. We have reserved 50 rooms for the group thinking some of you would like to share rooms to cut costs. Ninety days before our dates in May I will have the option to reduce or claim more rooms. The sooner you book the better so I know which way to direct the hotel.

Now back to planning Asheville Fling 2012.