A life's work in the garden, my gardening idol

Category: Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:51 am

We've been to visit a gardening friend who lives a bit further north. She's 75, and she's been gardening for most of her life. Her property isn't a lot bigger than ours, but it's got a very nice slope. Nobody knows how many plants she's got. She's been seed trading all over the world, and has made lots of international connections and good gardening friends. Some of them visit her every year, driving from Holland, Germany and from all over Norway. It's always a thrill to visit her and see what's new this year. Here she is:

Not only does she collect rare plants for her own garden, she's also very good at propagating and she sells her surplus. This is good for us! But bad news for our lawn. *lol* We managed to restrict ourselves this time around, mainly because many of her babies were already sold out. I owe her lots of thanks and admire the woman to the degree of worship. She was widowed last Christmas, but told us she finds comfort in her plants and all her gardening friends. I invite you for a walk in her garden. Click on the photo to start the slide show:

It's fairly full of plants, but she's still got a small piece of lawn where the grandchildren can play. Here are some close-ups of some of her blooms. I couldn't include all, and don't know the names for many of them, but I find them all lovely. Another slide show:

I wish I could have brought all Stewbies with me to her place. She loves meeting plant-crazy people, and is so kind and friendly one just has to become fond of her.

Last edited: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:51 am

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eileen wrote on Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:43 am:

OMG Droopy!!!!! Anne-lise has THE most gorgeous garden!!! How I wish I could afford to come over to Norway and take a tour of it!! She has so many beautiful and unusual plants that I've never seen before that I'd think I was in paradise. Thank you for sharing her world of plants with us.

BJ wrote on Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:04 pm:

Very heart-warming. She is a rareity. Thanks for sharing.
BJ

Droopy wrote on Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:24 pm:

We'd have a grand time, eileen! *lol* I hope your husband's of the patient type then, because some gardens take hours to walk through.

BJ, she is. No-one comes close, and her knowledge is enormous.

petunia wrote on Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:25 pm:

wonderful tour Droopy. I seen many flowers I'd like to have.
What a big place and sooo pretty.

Sjoerd wrote on Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:39 pm:

There's that famous lady again. What a very lucky person you are to know her. It's a great thing that you may buy plantlets from her. That way you can get several of the nice and unique things that she has.
Those slide shows are super. I enjoyed watching them. It is easy to see what a capable gardner she is.
I thank you very much for this blog entry today.

Droopy wrote on Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:51 am:

Petunia, we always find something new and special to bring home, even though we visit every year, and some years several times too.

Sjoerd, I know I'm lucky, and I cherish it too. Thanks for liking the slide shows.