Lavender Dreaming at Los Poblanos and a Dose of Dee

The gate clicked shut, the key turned, and we headed toward Maine. Although we won't arrive at our cottage for at least 5 weeks, I still felt that child-like whisper of butterfly wings inside me. True excitement.

In Albuquerque, we finally got a chance to slow down at the wonderful Los Poblanos Inn and Organic Agriculture Center (and YOU have to visit there) and lavender farm–the old Santa Fe style casa designed by famed 20th century architect John Gaw Meem. I wanted to move right in. I could picture myself gardening in the courtyard, tending huge containers of plants, and cutting bunches of lavender from the broad fields.

The new farm shop is wonderful. I think it is housed in an old creamery building. The ag center sponsors jam making, cooking, herbal, and other workshops. The manager told me that he hopes to have noted author Deborah Madison teach some cooking classes there. Hey, I'm game for that. I once attended a great workshop-cooking class taught by Deborah at Fairview Gardens in Goleta, California.

I couldn't resist buying three of the hanging tin bluebirds. I'll dangle them from the beams in my California studio.

Chickies and mama hen under the wheelbarrow

Yesterday, I did a short segment on KFOR (NBC) television in Oklahoma City and then drove to the rambling log home of beloved blogger and gardener Dee Nash (Red Dirt Ramblings).

The "girls" finally meet. See the flock of hens over Dee's shoulder?

A TRUE GARDENER! Hurrah! We loved visiting with her and her family– Bill her willing-worker husband and their son and two of their three daughters. We shared a meal together around the big family dining table, then we wandered the gardens, smelled roses, talked about great nurseries, plantsmen and women, writing, families, you name it.

Dee's perennial gardens. Their lake is down at the bottom of the hill.

Dee and Bill (and some helpers) constructed her new potager. Some of the bricks are from another project. Bill made the fountain (maybe Dee will share HOW)

Wandering, picking, laughing, and sharing. I felt right at home.

Dee is one of the garden bloggers for Lowe's Garden Grow Along and I always read both her personal blog and her Lowe's blog. She shares a lifetime passion for gardening as well as the wildlife her gardens host.

Tonight I'll be doing a talk and book signing at Best of Books in Edmond, Oklahoma, then tomorrow onward to Kansas and to the farm of our dear friends Jack and Jane Hogue in Odebolt, Iowa. They own Prairie Pedlar, which has been featured in many national magazines, and their gardens are magnificent. I am going to give a talk and have a book signing there on Saturday, and then Des Moines television on Sunday. With my next post, I'll share some photos of their fabulous gardens–I know you'll love them and be amazed at the paradise they've created in the middle of a Jolly Time Popcorn field.

Sending love and thanks to all of you,

Sharon

P.S. Please check in at my Lowe's blog and leave one of your valued comments. No matter where you live in the USA you'll find great garden insights from 8 passionate gardeners.