Plant Sales To Cupcakes

Last Saturday was a most relaxing day, one of the few that I seem to be having of late. After a little Fling work, it started with a mostly native plant sale at the Asheville Botanical Garden where I purchased red and yellow trilliums, a Birdsfoot Violet and an Enkianthus campanulatus.

From there it was a nice stroll through the neighborhood in West Asheville for lunch with a friend and a visit to the fully awake garden of Christopher Mello.

Red is a dominant theme in the foliage. I saw a red leafed Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, Corylus Avellana Contorta in the garden. I was kind of shocked by that.

Some where in this patch of poppies there will be blue ones. Perhaps we will get to see them when the bloggers are here.

An artist tinkers with the notion of what a garden is.

Cristmianthus lightifolia were in full bloom.

There are always shovel ready projects to be attended to in the garden.

Red and blue create a certain demanding mood.

In the garden of Christopher Mello.

And what could be a better way to wrap up a most relaxing day than with a fresh homemade cupcake, Ash Velvet was my selection, with Lucy in the red dress at Short Street Cakes.

A wonderful sampling of Asheville awaits you in just three short weeks.

To Tour The Biltmore House

I have in my possession a big stack of discount entry coupons made specifically for the garden bloggers. As a group we will be touring the gardens only. That alone takes a real gardener several hours. We are scheduled to be at the Biltmore from 1 to 4 pm on Saturday afternoon May 19th. I hope that will be enough time to get a good taste of a magnificent Frederick Law Olmsted designed garden.

Now I know for many of you this will be your first time in Asheville and at the Biltmore. How could we get you this close to the Biltmore House and not let you inside. Well it is because touring the inside of the house takes several hours too. It's big. Really big. There wasn't enough time for that and all the gardens we have planned for you.

As one of the major sponsors of Asheville Fling 2012, the Biltmore Estate has been most generous. Not only are they giving us free entry to the estate for the garden tour and a champagne social, Biltmore agreed to provide discount entry coupons so you could return at another time to see the house.

If you plan to go to the Biltmore House on or before May 17th and need your discount entry coupon sooner, you can private message me from the FaceBook page with your address and I will mail it to you. Otherwise I will have them in my possession to give out during the Fling.

Welcome To The Cesspool Of Sin

(UPDATE April 30th) Well Crap!! The poll for ordering Cesspool T-shirts broke and lost its count. If you ordered a shirt you will need to reorder. Don't use the poll. Order by a comment with size and numbers. Sorry. Get your order in by Monday May 7th. I have to call to have them printed and ready to pick up.

Like I need another project to keep me busy. But I couldn't let you miss out on the chance to get your very own local made Asheville memorabilia. Want one? Or ten?

I can take a pre-order and have them printed and ready for pickup upon your arrival in fantabulous Ashevegas.



The T-shirts are $15 each. He said cash. I didn't ask about tax. Will inquire. They come in sizes small to XXL, just plain sizes, no women's T's per se.

Don't send any money. You can pay when you get here. No credit cards. This deal may need a little fine tuning yet with me as the middle man, but I wanted to see if there was any interest.

The poll below will let you select multiple answers. If you need more than one of a size answer the poll that many times. I hope it lets you do that. Consider this the Beta version.

(No it won't let you vote more than once. The all knowing Google is too smart for that. If you want more than one of a size, vote, then leave a comment with how many more you want minus your votes.)

Cesspool T-Shirt

At The Biltmore With Bulbarella

You won't be seeing this a month from now when you visit the gardens of the Biltmore Estate. The 15 acre azalea garden will be finished blooming. So I don't feel bad taking you on a spring time tour of sights you won't see.



And the strangest azalea I have ever seen.



It is possible that the other rhododendrons and the Mountain Laurels will be blooming in May depending on the weathers. Can you depend on the weathers?



Not to worry. The gardens of America's largest home will not disappoint.



There is always something to see, something in bloom.



Just not the azaleas.



There are vistas.



And groves of bamboo.



There just won't be any azaleas in bloom.









Plenty big trees and baby Dawn Redwoods.






There just won't be any azaleas for you.



The conservatory is still in winter mode. Good thing cause a freeze is a coming.



Inside it is always filled with tropicals.









In the summer time the tropicals spill out the doors and flow out into the courtyards and sidewalks. It is a house plant lovers dream come true.



White wisteria blooms in the walled garden. You won't see that.



You will see an amazing display of perennials just now waking up.









The garden bloggers will only be touring the gardens during our visit. You can't miss the house though. You will be able to walk right up to it. You just can't go inside.



The tree peonies were already in bloom. There could be other peonies blooming while we are there.



The wisteria arbor will be done.



The statuary is timeless.



The vistas change with the seasons.



The house is immense. You can walk right up to it and touch it. Even take a picture of yourself with the house in the background. You just can't go inside. You're not allowed to take pictures inside anyway.



If you really must see the inside of the house, I picked up discount entry vouchers today for garden bloggers to return to the estate for a chance to get inside. The house tour alone takes a good two hours or more. We come for the gardens.



The gardeners are busy preparing the annual bedding display for your visit.



Because the tulips are pau. There will be no tulips for you.



Bulbarella and I spent two and a half hours just leisurely walking through the gardens of the Biltmore Estate on a cool spring day while the azaleas were at peak because there will be no azaleas for you when you visit the Biltmore in May.

A Visit To Wamboldtopia

If seeing a garden online before you see it in person will ruin things for you, go no further.



If you know like I do that a garden is new and different every day, then feel free to visit Wamboldtopia with me for the spring display. Be sure. Do you really want to see the garden now? Then Click This Link.