The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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Where to begin?

I am back home and finally have internet access again. I’ve had twenty four hours to let the events of the past four days really sink in and I am ready to share those with you. Ideally, I would have loved to have shared my thoughts/feelings at the end of each day while still there, but a nasty, filthy minded virus intervened (my apologies to housekeeping if they saw anything that poisoned their minds).

I have so much to share but in the interest of time and attention span, I will break these up over the course of the week. Today, I’ll cover my emotions, what I took away from it all and a general review of what went on. That will be followed by a ton of photos and what I got out of the many visits to some seriously kick ass gardens.

So, after arriving on Friday morning, I will admit I was even more nervous than I expected to be. I had reviewed the membership listing on the plane and as if I didn’t know already, I was in the company of some seriously talented individuals. I contemplated spending the weekend hitting up the local bars and lying to everyone back home that I actually attended. A blogger for six months, really, why are you here? Well, I persevered, threw caution to the wind and registered:                  

I quickly realized that the “first timer” badge draws a lot of attention. “Who are you with?” Um, myself, I like write a blog. But, to calm the nerves, I attended the:    

We were assigned a mentor and introduced to a ton of different people. And drank … OK I am relaxing. After that, we attended the trade show: 

And scored some major cool stuff – plants, seeds, tools (thank you Corona Tools) and:

Way cool! The swag piled up quickly:

That night I attended a Tweet-up (no laughing please, it was a party organized through Twitter) and that is where I learned quickly how damn friendly, supportive and super interesting everyone was. A TV personality, growers, a designer, book authors, social media marketers and bloggers all chatted it up with the common love of gardening of all types. Home boy was hooked!

The days to follow included seminars touching on topics all over the map (social media, how to earn money writrting, the story of design) and visits to numerous gardens all over Dallas. One special moment for me was meeting a couple at the Botanical Gardens, near the bar below, who were both professional photographers also from NJ. They took the time out to sit and talk for 45 minutes and share their stories with me and also listen to where I was coming from. I’ll never forget it.               

While the garden tours were crowded, it didn’t impact my enjoyment one bit; it honestly felt like a common bond amongst us all and it was invigorating.

While I love plants on their own, the garden tours opened my eyes to the fact that I truly love “design”:

And, more importantly, I am inspired to get involved with my son’s school like the amazing garden we saw at a local elementary school (more in a post to follow).

In summary, I could go on and on but will keep it short. ALL of the people I met were incredibly warm, from such diverse backgrounds and fascinating to learn from. To attend this conference was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I’m not stopping here.  

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13 Responses

  1. You have never told your readers how you earn your living when you are not gardening and blogging. Based on what I have just read, I wonder if it is in the communication industry because this is a powerfully executed blog.

  3. It was great meeting you at GWA, John. And I agree with you–everyone there was amazingly friendly and supportive. It was a great (and exhausting) experience.

    And perhaps most importantly, four days in Dallas made me so much more appreciative of the wimpy weather we’ve been having here in the SF bay area!

  4. Ever since I first noticed you were going to this I’ve been waiting for you to write about it. What a cool experience! I can’t wait to read the rest…

  8. John, so glad I got to meet you there. It was my first time too and like you, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was so much fun, wasn’t it?

  9. john I like that photo of the tree landscaped by a circle of low growing green plants, I didn’t know that layers of green could look so appealing..and work so well together.

    So Glad that you have enjoyed yourself..I look forward to chatting more with you later on.. Have a nice evening.

  10. Hi John,How nice to read about your experiences at the GWA conference. I’ve been reading a lot about this and have been keeping up with it all on FB. I’m considering attending next year in Indianapolis but really want to hear how you see ‘bloggers’ fitting in to this. Are you a GWA member? I guess many people don’t actually belong, but then the cost is probably more to attend. I’ll be looking forward to your next few posts about your experiences!

  12. So now that you’re a serious garden writer, does that mean I can’t be silly on your blog anymore?

    🙁

    I’m happy you had a great time though. *no silliness* I’m really jealous. *even less silliness*

    I didn’t even joke about the coyote urine granules. I’m pretty proud of myself on that one.

  13. Allen – I am a technical writer for an insurance company so this is my chance to be more creative.

    Claire – it was great to meet you as well and I must admit I am liking the cooler weather

    Melissa – I couldn’t get most of it home, I need to attack it better next year, was afraid of the airlines

    Jean – was great to meet you and yes I am in way let down mode

    Jan – I met a ton of bloggers while there and yes I am a member of GWA. By all rights I shouldn’t have been there, you are all light years ahead of me but blogging was way respected, in my opinion.

    Kyna – if you aren’t silly I will ban your ass! And I would love to hear your thoughts on coyote urine.

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