Do you love to make mud pies, grow a houseplant, eat veggies, or stop to smell the bouquet on your co-workers desk? Everyone enjoys a bit of green growing around him or her and then there are those that are passionate and needy when it comes to dabbling in the dirt. With this blog, we'll try to satisfy those needs and tell you about what's going on with the Anchorage gardening scene. You know, as I finally learned, it's all about the dirt.
Photographer and gardener Fran Durner (fdurner@adn.com) writes the blog.
Take an interactive tour of the gardens showing in Anchorage's garden tour, with photos and audio commentary from each gardener.
Deadheading and seed collecting
Harvesting herbs from your garden
Municipal Greenhouse Gardeners
Alaska Society of Outdoor and Nature Photographers
Alaska Plant Materials Center:
Fairbanks Georgeson Botanical Garden
Lazy Mountain Woolwood Gardens
Garden sales season - 9/4/2008 4:41 pm
Dahlia Days - Finally! - 9/2/2008 1:14 pm
September Garden Calendar - 8/31/2008 8:14 pm
Another beautiful pumpkin - 8/28/2008 4:06 pm
Plan ahead: 2009 Farmers Almanac is out now - 8/27/2008 1:52 pm
What Does Alaska Grown Mean to You? - 8/25/2008 3:16 pm
State Fair opens - 8/20/2008 5:07 pm
Happy Birthday Nickel! - 8/19/2008 9:30 am
Lunchtime light - 8/18/2008 3:00 pm
Farmer's Markets - 8/17/2008 7:26 pm
Floral carpet in Belgium - 8/14/2008 2:38 pm
An Herb Harvest - 8/13/2008 5:31 pm
An English garden - 8/11/2008 4:55 pm
Free Cooperative Extension Publications - While they last! - 8/7/2008 4:32 pm
The Tomatoes of Summer - 8/5/2008 4:39 pm
Creating Floral Displays - 8/4/2008 12:14 pm
August Calendar - 7/31/2008 3:50 pm
See Big Lake and Willow gardens this weekend - 7/30/2008 3:56 pm
Homer Garden Tour - 7/27/2008 8:49 pm
Dr. Armitage is a self-described plant nerd - 7/26/2008 6:34 pm
So many gardens, too little time - 7/24/2008 12:55 pm
State Fairgrounds in flower - 7/23/2008 9:38 am
Posted: August 4, 2008 - 12:14 pm
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The Ringmaster looks over some of the horticultural displays under the "Big Top" at the Anchorage Garden Club annual flower show held at the Alaska Botanical Garden on Saturday and Sunday. The cool summer held back some flowers- there were hardly any dahlias entered. Photo by Fran Durner
Floral arranging is not my strong point, never has been. I gave up trying long ago and frankly, I’m not that fussy. Whenever I cut flowers I just stuff them into a vase that seems to fit them and let them fall as they may. To me that’s beautiful.
"Walking the Tightrope" by Sally Mallory took top design awards at the flower show. Photo by Fran DurnerThere are some people though, that can take a word or a phrase, a song or a poem and create a floral arrangement that embodies that idea in the most stunningly creative way. The members of the Anchorage Garden Club make it one of their goals to do just that.
Every year they sponsor a flower show showcasing the best of horticulture and design. It’s a precursor to the State Fair, a chance to see what you’ve got and what you can make of it.
This past weekend, if you had a chance to go by the Alaska Botanical Garden, you would have seen the results of the AGC’s 65th annual flower show, “The Circus is in Town.”
This "Two-Headed Woman" design by Charlie Kempton utilized ideas of a double-header film and two heads of cabbage in the display. Photo by Fran DurnerDesigns with names of, “Two-Headed Woman,” “Flying Trapeze,” “Tom Thumb,” “Cotton Candy,” “Walking the Tightrope” and “Lion Tamer” were florally interpreted and displayed on tables (under the “Big Top”) and out in the open around the lower perennial garden.
If you missed seeing this show, look for the AGC holiday flower show in November. Last year’s theme was children’s rhymes and stories. I’m looking forward to seeing what the AGC comes up with next.
An interpretaion of "Cotton Candy." Photo by Fran DurnerThe Anchorage Garden Club’s next meeting is this Thursday, August 7 at 7pm. The program is on Heirlooms & Other Plants - How to Save Seeds. It is free and open to the public. The presentation is at the Pioneer Schoolhouse, 437 E 3rd Avenue, down the stairs on the right to the basement meeting room.
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