I'm going tomorrow evening. I hope the rain doesn't spoil our fun?!

Man, someone PLEASE take pictures!!! I can't make it all the way to the state fair so I will have to rely on pictures.
Tammy take your camera over there...hehe. PLEASE.

Really, anybody I want to see her display. She talks about doing them every year but I don't remember ever seeing any pictures. Maybe I just missed them?

Anywho, I wanna see too!

:) Fran

First of all, thanks, ya'll- we couldn't have done it without you! Sure, i'll post them in a bit, and link to some of the other gardens as well. Yes, pix have been posted each year, Fran- do searches to see some of the older ones.

Cameron, you have to be talking about Mr. Teasley. He and his wife, Kitty are an absolute hoot! We were probably there at the same time- i hate that i missed out on meeting you. I think we were in & around the gardens most of the time the Teasleys were. Their daughter, Kathy and granddaughters Natasha and Rainbow complete the participants from the family, and they all work together on 2 gardens each year. They are so sweet and much fun to be around. I look forward to visiting with them each year!

JQ- i think the rain is supposed to be quite light. Take an umbrella, raincoat, or even a big hat and you should be fine. Nice perk of going when it's gloomy is the crowds are a lot thinner. Our garden is one of the few that can be viewed from under a roof.

Tammy -- I asked around for you, but never found you! You were there at the same time. I took photos of your display if you need them (I won't post yours...that's your thing, not mine).

Yes, Mr. Teasley and Natasha talked to me quite awhile. I took Mr. Teasley's photo and am planning to write a blog article. Natasha is going to send me some background info about his WWII years...he told us a bit about it and is very proud of his service.

I took LOTS of photos of the other displays also, but I don't want to post those until folks have had a chance to go to the Fair.

Cameron

Oh, ok,- i was going to post pix of the other gardens. Maybe i shouldn't, but plenty on here can't get there. So, if you don't want to see pix, go no further!! :)

First, some history of mine- this is the first day of planting:
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this is about 1/3 planted in mid august.
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later in sept, after my 3rd day of planting:
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and, all finished, night before judging:
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I don't have any good daytime shots of mine, yet. I need to be out there when it's a bit gloomy but still light to get good ones. One note- i don't have much blooming because of a stupid stupid mistake. my hubby & i were sharing watering/fertilizer duties since we installed. Well, turns out our hose end sprayer wasn't pulling- and because we kept switching out we didn't notice til just a few weeks before the fair it wasn't going down. By the end of the fair i expect more blooms as we've been pushing the ferts since then and there are lots of buds set. Broke my heart, though. Live & learn i guess.

before you guys ask, the gravel is painted, sort of. I used sun du soliel paint, available online & micheal's, which is a fabric paint used for sun dying and is transparent. Great stuff to work with- you get fabulous results- sort of the opposite of sun prints with construction paper. we'd noticed where it went on the gravel it didn't wash off and retained color well from past tshirts. Anyhoo, i diluted that and put it in a spray bottle, spread our rounded stones out and gave the gravel several coats on my drive, then turned it over and repeated. So i now have a big patch of purple in my drive! :) It gives the stones color, but you still see the subtleties of the stone, too. Not sure what i'll do with the gravel when we're done, but...

I'll post some of my favorite other gardens in the next post.

Ok- i hope these aren't huge on your screens. i tried to make them smaller. Sorry if they are too big. They looked better in my other browser, so...

Anyhow, here's some of the amazing gardens done by some of the other folks. For more, click on the link below.

Arthur & Kitty's garden:
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Tasha & Kathy's:
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This year's Pitzer winner, Wakefield HS (top of all 27 gardens):
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Shane Pierce:
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Peg Burke:
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Raleigh Garden Club:
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Brigette Zazzara's (up on the hill):
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Sandi Zazzara's (also up hill):
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There are several more, so be sure to click on the link. I wrote who did them and what the theme was. They'll be easier to see there if they're too big for the screen here, too. I'm sure I'll add some detail shots and other gardens as i take more thru the fair.

Here is a link that might be useful: fair 08 album

Tammy -- I have good close up shots of different areas in your display. Okay for me to post them here? Also...may I use your full shot of Shane Pierce's herb and flower garden in my blog? The sun wasn't right during my shots, so I have good close-ups, but I couldn't get a wide, full shot.

Thanks
Cameron

Sure, you can use what you want, no problem. Just byline me, please. And certainly you can post any pix you took of my garden. It's pretty hard to get a full shot of mine and get the top detail since the roof is in the way, so i've concentrated on that, not taking any detail shots since we finished it. I will take some before the fair's over, though. I need to get some better shots of shane's garden myself. That one was in full sun and i don't care for it that much- it looks like there's no organization, and there is when you see it in person. It would probably turn out better shot from the height of a chair. That's what we did last year when we were in that spot.

Also, just to remind everyone who's close enough, after the fair on monday, the day we tear out our gardens, most of us sell at least some of our plants. So if you see something you're interested in in my area or any of the others, come on monday the 27th and we'll be allowed to sell after 10 (the mum sale is from 8-10 and we aren't allowed in before that). In fact, email me if you see something of mine so that i can set something aside for you- it can get a bit hurley burley at first. Usually most of the people leave by about 11:30 though.

Tammy--Helen Yoest asked if you also won best in show this year? She left a comment on my blog.

Yes...I will definitely byline (and watermark for you) any photos that I use in my blog. Thanks!

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Thanks, Cameron. Great shots. No, we didn't get best in show- aka the Pitzer. That was won by the patchwork quilt garden by Wakefield HS. Although, it could have easily gone to either the one Charleston garden (by the Raleigh Garden club, of whom Helen is a member of, and did their garden last year) or Brigette's patio one up on the hill as they both scored 98's as well (they go by score for the Pitzer). We scored a 97, so we were close. They tend to not give the same gardeners them 2 years running (though they're not supposed to know who's garden it is) and we received the Pitzer last year for our tea garden. The Ag Commissioner's award hasn't been decided yet to my knowledge, so we may still get that, but i doubt it. It's not based on scoring- it's whatever the AC likes. There are some really great ones this year- tough competition.

I really hope all this rain isn't flooding the globe fountain with mud! I guess we'll get to see how well it holds up. I am glad we got rain though- things were starting to get dry again. Incidentally, that was the one negative comment we got from the judges. They thought it was 'forced'. We felt it was essential. Go figure. :)

Tammy -- when I use your garden in my blog, do you want me to use your Tamelask moniker, your first name only, your first and last name?

You can look at my blog today on Fine Feathers (silkie bantams) to see how I refer to the photos and content from other folks. If you want to email me a description of your garden display with a plant list (optional), that would be very informative for my readers. I have around 4,000 readers per month, not including the subscribers.

Thanks
Cameron

PS you've GOT to see the Silkie Bantam chickens in the poultry barn!

Here are my grainy photos:
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Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Feathers on my blog today

I love checking out these gardens, and this year is great (dunno about tomorrow after the potential frost, though). One thing I also really like is finding that next, really nice, unusual thing that I haven't grown before. Whoever has the garden plot with the Root Beer Plant in it, thanks! That is a really beautiful thing. And then to find out that it's closely related to black pepper, and that it's used in Mexican cooking (although it has a low toxicity)...pretty cool! And supposedly it will perennialize here.

Brian m2 - That root beer plant was put in by one of the other long term gardeners at the fair. I also grow that plant tho I don't eat it or cook with it. You can buy it at that place in Sanford (you know, the place we're not allowed to mention here on GW).

Cameron- you can credit me as Tammy Kennedy. I should start watermarking all the photos i post online since i hope to sell some someday. It's just a hassle and i haven't gotten into the habit or that paranoid yet. I don't mind if you mention i'm tamelask on GW- it's no big secret. I'll email you a pdf of the plot board and you can get all the info you want off it. I had 130 varieties/species of plants or so in there, so you'll probably want to pare it down to the big stuff. I was tickled when we went out today to discover no mud from the 1.25" of rain we had fri eve!

I adore silkies. Growing up, we had a flock of show banties and a few big ones for selling eggs- we ate the banty eggs ourselves, as well as the duck eggs. We had a few black and white silkies, among other types. It was my job before the chicken shows to wash and blow dry them to get them ready for the show. Some folks would using old fashioned blueing for the grey (so called blue) and white ones, but we never did. We were involved to have fun, show a little, meet like minded folks and get fresh eggs, never to just win. Silkies are incredibly sweet birds. Chickens in general are much smarter and lots funnier than most people give them credit for. We had one that liked to watch TV, one that liked to ride on our shoulders and 'fly' around on our hands (we'd hold her under her keel, with her legs hanging between our fingers & she'd spread her wings as we flew her like a kid does a toy airplane- it was very cute), and some other funny ones. I think most of the time the flock numbered around 40, 70 or so at the top end. I'd have chickens in a heartbeat now, but we have parrots and there are certain diseases that pass back & forth, so we don't. I do miss really fresh eggs, though.

Brian- rootbeer plant, huh? I'll have to ck that out. hadn't heard of that. I have the plant/vine that makes black peppercorns, but so far it's not too impressive.

Congratulations Tammy and Co.
Saw the gardens 10-19-2008
Really impressed with the "Ying and Yhang" and how you fit the chairs with seating into the arrangement. Your garden plot was a real winner! You deserve the BEST.........Dianne

So...to echo the sentiments above but from a different demographic, we walked the fair gardens last night and my daughter, who is seven, felt that Tammy's "cool chinese garden was the best". Those were her actual words. I love that kid!

Meredith

Thanks, guys- i really needed to hear that today. I'm kinda blue- just found out my biggest client is insisting on no more freelancers. Ouch!

Tammy, Your garden was stunning!!! Those purple pebbles knocked my socks off! Just absolutely gorgeous, the whole thing. You inspire me, girl!! Thank you for your generous spirit and gardening energy!

Aww- thanks, Amy! Did you get to see it in person? My back is aching from tearing the whole thing out today. Pete took the day off so it was the 2 of us part of the day then the kids lent a hand tonight. Tanya was so sweet she came out and helped about 1/2 the day with a baby on her back the whole time! Thanks again, Tanya!! Looong day. I hate that part worst- it's like being told you *must* tear your tree down at 12:01 on christmas night after you worked so hard just hours, days & weeks before to make it perfect and still want to come down from the holiday fun slowly. Ah well- part of the package. Now i get to sort through everything and winterize tomorrow.

Tammy's Fair garden is featured on my blog today. You can leave comments on the article (just click on the 'comments' at the end...you can remain annonymous or use a Google ID).

The focus of the article is on the creation of the yin yang rock design.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: Tammy's Fair garden