For those of you who don't know the name, Jamie is an Australian born, award-winning international horticulturist, landscape designer, and host of the HGTV show The Outdoor Room. Author of nine garden books, former host of the PBS series The Victory Garden, and as he spoke about himself at his Sumner appearance, a former member of the group Manpower Australia. (Note: the link to Manpower Australia shows images of scantily clad men. If you find that sort of thing distasteful, please do not follow the link.)
We arrived right at 1:00, the advertised start time and found a fairly long line waiting to get in.
Speaking mostly about plant combinations using Proven Winners plants (lots of petunais) and creating outdoor living spaces with a bit about his new books The Outdoor Room andm Jaie Durie's Edible Garden Design, his talk was lively and entertaining. This was the last stop on his U.S. book tour and his voice sounded a little tired. After an hour, he stopped and went inside to sign books.
These gals seemed very happy to see Jamie!
One of the best things about the event which cost $20.00 is that the program came with a $20.00 gift certificate to the nursery! Since Tom doesn't really care much about plants, I got his as well and we were off to shop! Here's some of what we saw.
Tender Clerodendrum thomsoniae 'Variegata' was wearing his foliar and floral finery.
'Peter's Wonder' is one of my favorite coleus color wise but it never grows as vigorously as many others for me.
This hot colored vignette screamed sunny summer days!
Galvanized metal gutters make great display racks for hanging basket stuffers. I can see these filled with succulents in Ms. Danger's garden.
I love the way nurseries display their plants in color groupings this time of year. On a recent visit at Valley Nursery, Debbie Teashon explained that at this point in the season, many customers are looking for interesting combinations to create or refresh container gardens. There are some great suggestions here!
This yellow and gray combination seems very peaceful.
This clever lady dressed to match this combination!
A modern looking black pot would be perfect with planted with these.. Of course, I'd think of orange or red because I love bright colors.
Sedum 'Thunder Cloud' has great texture.
These simple sempervivum combination bowls are fantastic.
Cistus 'Little Miss Sunshine' had neither a tag nor a price so it stayed at the nursery.
What did come home with us was a two gallon Kalanchoe thrysiflora and a beautiful Brugmansia 'Snowbank' which I love as much for the variegated foliage as the euphorically evening scented blooms. All in all a fun way to spend an afternoon!
I have a love/hate relationship with Jamie Durie. He's very personable and charismatic, and I find his TV show interesting, but he puts a big emphasis on hardscaping and (in my opinion) overbuilds, overfills, and overplants the spaces he works on. And do they come with a maintenance crew? I have to wonder how the landscaping and plants fare after a few months or years! Seriously, the people who let their yards get into such a poor condition in the first place are not going to be taking good care of the plants he installs; watering, pruning, and weeding take time and effort that these people don't seem inclined to spend. I would love to see him go back to feature some of his projects from previous seasons.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen previews for his Garden Room makeover show, but was a fan of the Victory Garden. You have a good point, one can re do a garden space in a short time but cannot instantly create a gardener & it would be interesting to see what happens in a few months/years. He was, as you said, personable and charismatic, but although I'm sure that he has a wealth of plant knowledge, his talk focused more on interesting color/texture combinations of fairly common plants. A fun day and a nice man but not a lot of new information.
DeleteLooks like you had fun! And it's great that you got to spend Tom's gift certificate too. I have to admit, Jamie Durie does nothing for me. I know plenty of lady gardeners swoon over him.
ReplyDeleteWe did have fun but as you know, we gardeners always have fun when there are plants around! Jamie is a fun speaker but relied a lot on jokes about things like "lifting the skirts" of trees (wink, wink) to allow gardening beneath. He's won lots of awards for his designs and probably has considerable horticultural acumen but this was more of a book tour/proven winners appearance than a lecture regarding unusual plants. Cotton candy - lots of fun but mostly fluff. There were oohs and ahs when he put a gold and purple cotinus together, etc. Happy time!
Delete$20? Wow, he is certainly a draw if he can command that price. Then again I guess it's a wash with the GC, just a certain way for the nursery to make money!
ReplyDeleteI love those gutters and Andrew has suggested something like that on the new fence. That's a project for post-Fling energy.
There was a meet and greet earlier that cost $120.00 (still only 20 dollar gift certificate.) Don't know how many people sprung for that. Enjoyable day and there were raffle tickets stapled to the programs as well - lots of cool prizes.
DeleteI remember you talking about your mind being in the gutter (s) on the fence. Will you have any energy post-fling?
Although I've watched "The Outdoor Room," I share John B's apprehensions about Durie's approach but getting a $20 coupon to spend on plants would have probably been a sufficient draw to get me to go hear him speak. It looks like another very nice nursery - I love the display in front of the brightly colored doors.
ReplyDeleteIt is a nice nursery so any excuse to visit and spend money was welcome. The talk was an added bonus.
DeleteI was a huge fan of the victory garden back in the day, when I was soaking up every bit of garden info I could. Jamie is lovable and easy on the eyes (who cares about foliage after seeing Manpower Australia pictures, regardless of how variegated it is!). I expect a beginner gardener would be more impress with his presentation then the experienced folks.
ReplyDeleteI'll look for Sedum 'Thunder Cloud' on my next nursery visit. It's a little pale on it's on but next to black foliage will be fantastic.
'Thunder Cloud' looks like a great team player! This talk would be great for a beginner to try and help them think of interesting combinations of plants and other interesting thoughts about the presenter...
DeleteManpower to Horticulturist, talk about career change! It's good that you also get to spend what you paid for, win win situation.
ReplyDeleteIt must be nice nice to have such varied talents! The situation worked well!
DeleteOh oh oh oh..... so many beautiful plants and vignettes! LOVE that orange one. Fabulous. Coleus 'Peter Wonder' is one of my favorites and I used in in arrangements every year. Lucky for me it grows very well for me, even in full sun..;.
ReplyDeleteMaybe 'Peter's Wonder' works better in warmer weather or maybe I got excited for a few years and got it too soon and it remained stunted. Maybe I'll try again as it's such a beauty!
DeleteI have to admit I have never heard of this guy but he obviously has a big and enthusiastic following. Sounds like a great day, listening about plants, looking at plants, buying plants!
ReplyDeleteOne might say that we were in a vegetative state.
DeleteI didn't know the name but I recognized the face. I didn't get to Windmill this spring. That was an oversight.
ReplyDeleteOne can't hit all of the nurseries and still have as splendid garden as yours! There are only so many hours in a day!
DeleteI really ought to take advantage of events like these - perhaps they would help acquaint me with and anchor the names of plants more firmly into my brain (although I think I'm pretty much a hopeless case in that regard). I really like those hot-colored doors...
ReplyDeleteMust have been quite a treat to have $40 to spend there! I have no IDEA what you took home with you Guess I COULD google those names :)
Why do I keep getting a mesage "URL must contain a host name" message when I try to comment using my sceneinourgarden.blogspot.com url?
What a fun treat and plant shopping too! Jamie Durie is a bit over the top but I think they push that on TV I have gleaned some cool ideas from his show. I love the nursery with their plant combos!
ReplyDeleteI bought 'Peter's Wonder' at a nursery recently. It seems to be doing okay with just a little bit of sunshine. I really like its colors. I need to be on the lookout for 'Thundercloud' Sedum. Very nice! ... I'm not typically very impressed with celebrities but I would much rather wait in line for a garden celebrity more than a Hollywood one if you know what I mean.
ReplyDelete