Plants have been growing under glass since the early 1800s, but the real revolution came when Wardian cases made it possible to transport indigenous agricultural goods. Previously, most plants perished onboard ships. Over half of the orchids transported to Europe in the 19th century died in transit. Wardian cases were…
Blog Archives
Who Was Mother Meres?
Mother Meres: The Mother of all Garden Fairies. Mother Meres was part of a group the first non-native settlers to make their home in Tarpon Springs in the 1880s and became one of Tarpon Springs’ most admired women. Mother Meres was Pinellas County Florida’s original ‘Garden Fairy’—spreading her love of…
Mother Meres Mural Hits The Wall
On Thursday, September 3oth and Friday, October 1st, 2010, Mother Meres mural was installed! Click to view the video of the installation process: The mural and adjacent dumpster surround transformation is a joint project of The Garden Fairies and the Greater Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce. At the upcoming dedication…
September: time to plant up a storm
If you have been hiding from the heat all summer, there is good news for Southern gardeners– September is a super time to starting planting again. Fall is a glorious time to fall in love with your garden again, when Mother Nature finally starts switching off the steam bath. Southern gardeners…
Garden Walk Buffalo 2010 “urban greenewal”
The numbers are impressive; 340 gardeners open their gardens for a weekend to 45,000 visitors, making Garden Walk Buffalo (GWB) the largest garden tour in the United States. This year a small flock of Garden Fairies shuffled off for Buffalo to enjoy Garden Walk Buffalo GWB is one of the…
Dig life to live longer
Gardening can help you live up to 10 years longer— according to National Geographic writer Dan Buettner. When I was in Buffalo, New York recently for the Buffalo Garden Walk, I got together some of my Buffalo and Florida friends, all having gardening as a hobby in common. As we…
The Mother-of-all-murals moves towards completion
How long does a big mosaic mural take? A long ?‡#% time! When we first envisioned doing a mural, we considered a hands-on community process suggested by Garden Fairy Heather. She estimated it would take a long weekend. Instead we ended up doing a massively-multi-media mural that will end up…
Gardening Businesses Sprouting “Green”
With the downturn in the economy, people are looking for ways to earn extra money. If you are a gardener in need of extra green, consider transforming some of your turf areas into an income-generator. Many people are using family members to start creative new ventures. Fresh produce proves a…
Garden Fairies fly north for symposium
Soon a flock Garden Fairies will be shuffling off to Buffalo, participants at the upcoming garden festival symposium. Garden Fairies are magical creatures with special powers, so we could just don our fairy wings and buzz off to Buffalo. But this time of year, we opt to fly commercially over…