The 2008 Garden Writers Association conference, Portland, Oregon; September 19-22.

What a blast I had at the Garden Writers Association conference, held in Portland from Sept 19 - 22. My twitter pal, @jeanannvk became my schmooze companion as we openly introduced ourselves to lots of new people and had a great time. I know I would never have been so outgoing if it weren’t for her. She knows how to meet people and engage them in brilliant, funny, clever conversation.

Here’s a summary of things I learned at #gwa (the twitter hashtag for the conference):

• Oregon seed producers are really concerned about the impact of GMO canola (rape) growing throughout the state in “test beds” that have a tendency to cross breed with all brassicas.
• You can buy one flat of plants from Terra Nova because they don’t have minimums. Thanks Dan Heims!
• Seeds of Change is updating their static clingy plastic bags by neutralizing them before shipping. they are also going to put small seeds into inner packets so you don’t have 20 tiny seeds stuck at the bottom of your bag that you can’t get at.
• You only have to use a couple a sluggo tidbits in each pot to keep the slugs away. i was dumping tons. Imagine a company telling you to use LESS of their products!
• Ball gave away matching boas to go with their new plant selections. The most interesting: a full sun tolerant begonia - Dragon Wing - which looks like a fuchsia.
• Bloggers are more successful when they can write fast — 15-20 minutes per post, max. If it ain’t in your head already, it ain’t worth telling others about?
• Mary-Kate Mackey says if you want to improve your writing, you need to constantly self-edit. Re-see every aspect from verb and noun usage to sentence length, to paragraph connections
• Fiskars is releasing a clipper next year specifically designed to reduce hand impact - it’s for arthritis sufferers and anyone who gets a lot of hand fatigue when using clippers. the handle turns 90 degrees to reduce stress on the thumb and first finger.
• Many magazines have year end meetings to determine the entire next years’ offerings. Your article proposal could sit with them for almost a year before getting consideration.
• HPSO has a chorus called: The Goddess Flora and the Deadhead Society
• Successful authors are amazingly open in helping people find resources, connections and ideas.
• Successful book authors need to have a multi-pronged approach to marketing because the publishers’ marketing abilities and investments are weak - use email, blogs, other web advertising, news media, and even word of mouth.
• Collaborations between authors and photographers usually occur in the wee hours of the morning. That’s to capture the shot before the light gets too harsh. Check out Debra Prinzing and William Wright’s new book on sheds for early a.m. shots.
• The Doubletree does pretty well on desserts and salads, not so well on main courses. They did have wifi, so we were able to twitter constantly.
• Begging an editor to visit your house can work. Details later!

Fun people we engaged with:

• Cathy Wilkinson Barash, past president of the GWA and prolific author
• Jenny Andrews from Garden Design Magazine, our very favorite on landscape architecture
• Joel Reiten from Seeds of Change who told me the seed packets would change
• Kate Bryant from Portland Spaces (let’s get some MORE gardening in the magazine, Randy!)
• LeAnn Locher who helped me get going on Twitter
• Katherine Aby, of the Espalier Society (new to social networking, she got very excited about finding others with similar interests, so we shared that excitement)
• Amy Goldman, author of a BEAUTIFUL new book on heirloom tomatoes (wins for most beautiful web site too)
• Dan Heims of Terra Nova Nurseries, home of the Tiki Torch echinacea (I’m gonna get me some of those sexy beauties!)
• Jim Long (and partner, Josh Young) of Herb Companion magazine and NUMEROUS books
• Keane McGee and Rose Marie Nichols McGee of Nichols Nursery
• Dee Nash of Red Dirt Ramblings (@jeanannvk is from Ok-la-homie too)
• Tracy Robertson of Contech - we use the cat chaser and scare crow to keep deer out of the garden
• Darrell Trout, author and speaker on all things hort

So, next year in Carolina — I made so many new friends that I think I just might go!

Carol on Lee Kelly sculpture

We recently shot the yoga video “YogaTones” with Carol Biel at the farm.  Here are a couple of scenic pics to help you think about doing your next film/photography shoot at Westwind!

morning light peeking to the tree

Another pose on the sculpture

Yoga Mudra

Dragon fly in the water feature

Early morning in the grasses

How the Garden grows

Posing for an interview

Light and shadow

Namaste in the woods

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting with Rebecca Gerendasy (@cookingupastory), who creates the fabulous online show, Cooking up a Story. She is someone who is conversant about cooking, gardening, and technology among many other topics, and she is a great resource to connect with others in this realm.

As we were talking, she asked “why sell organic landscape plants?” I mean, it’s an obvious question. Many people may wonder, why bother treating flowers organically when people don’t ingest them? After all, people want really beautiful landscape plants and the flowers at the nursery that really pop are the ones that go home in the car. Can an organic grower ever achieve that kind of hothouse beauty?

So here are my reasons for being an organic nursery owner:

Many home gardeners are moving over to organic methods, fertilizers and pest control. Apparently, enough people are interested in organic gardening for the press to acknowledge it, the Garden Writers Association to feature a discussion about it and for Oregon Extension Service to finally work with Oregon Tilth to put together an Organic Master Gardening course. If you are going to be treating your plant organically once you purchase it, why not demand organic treatment BEFORE you purchase it? In this scenario, the plants wouldn’t be chemical-laden upon purchase or strained by the exhaustion of intensive bloom falsely created by some nurseries to entice you to buy the plants.

Pesticides and herbicides that are used heavily by the nursery industry are poisoning our rivers, birds, and humans. They mess up the balance of nature and waste resources to create. The resources and costs that nurseries put into pesticide purchase and application can be spent instead on human labor out in the field to manage pests when they occur as opposed to before they occur. I do not want to be a part of this irresponsible treatment of land and water.

If a plant requires intensive chemical care at the nursery, it will require intensive care at your home. Who wants that? Oregon is blessed with an amazing climate for growing a huge variety of plants. Our nursery specializes in low-water using, low care, sustainable plants that are beautiful and support wildlife habitat. You, too, can organically grow plants that make birds sing their hearts out in honor of your bounty.

Sustainable grasses grow fabulously with low watering requirements

My interest in the survival of our species requires that I do everything I can to steward the land that I own. My land has the headwaters of a contributory creek to the Tualatin River running through it and I do not want to add pesticides or nitrates from chemical fertilizers to that stream that would change water quality and harm everything downstream.

Hardy fuchsias are really beautiful and can be easy to maintain.

Finally, there are very few organic nurseries. So I’m part of a new niche market, which just might help my business get support and purchases from our socially responsible Portland community.

What can you do to help curb the ecological impact of pesticides on your family? Tell your local nursery to start looking for organic nursery plants. Tell them you want it. Tell them they need to demand more organic treatment from their growers to keep you buying with them. Tell them you want more organic treatment products for purchase too. If you use your voice as a customer, business owners listen. They have to keep you happy!