Oh yeah - I was going to go see that and forgot until I saw your post. As for what's going on with Herronswood, I only know they were bought by one of the big companies- I'm sure I'm less informed than most here. So glad I saved those catalogs from years past. The writing was a joy. MsBumble

Instead of repeating the story, here is a link to a few posts...

Here is a link that might be useful: Heronswood on GW

Thanks, I spent some time reading about it. As one of the posts said, it was like being at an online wake. Very sad. MsBumble

My personal take on the Heronswood East Open Days at
Burpee's Fordhook Farms was that it was a complete fraud:
in fact, the dates were actually previously scheduled
as part of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days program;
there was additional hype in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's summer newsletter. Now, don't
get me wrong: Fordhook Farm is fairly interesting - the farm's 18th-century manor house is actually a National
Historic Site - there are a number of fairly interesting
gardens that "display" plants, but the gardens aren't
particularly well-designed or maintained. There is one HUGE exception: a relatively new (circa 2001) planting
called the "Happy Garden" (forgive the name!) that should be the Holy Grail for any East Coast/mid-Atlantic perennial
gardener. It is essentially a vast square plot, perhaps
100' x 100', with entrances centered on the four sides,
and plunked down in the middle of a vast lawn. . .but
within that perfect square, surrounded by the perfect split
rail fence, absolute asymetry reigns. There are numerous
beds, no two alike, completely irregular in shape, planted
with stunning sweeps of flowers, irregularly puntuated with
accent shrubs and huge grasses, the whole, wild cacophony
gently linked together with curving grass pathways. In my
book, a masterful display, and one Burpee should be rightly proud of. . .

But the Heronswood East was a total fraud: it consisted
of a bunch of Heronswood plants for sale on tables in a pine grove, and a lot of them didn't look too good,
despite the usual stiff prices (and you could get at least
half of what they displayed at your local nursery for half the price!) Period.

Michael Dirr was in residence, giving a lecture on "Hydrangeas"; he is a voluable and amusing speaker
(a "character", if you will), and many of his books are
legendary and consumately useful. But about 20 minutes
into his spiel, you begin to uncomfortably sense that he is
"selling" plants, particularly those that he and his
collegues at the Georgia univesity were he is based have
developed. Maybe it's just me, and I'm a little bit cynical
about how the gentle art of gardening has become Big Business - I guess you just have to weed out the information that's of value to you, and ignore all the rest of the hype - maybe that's why I value all the "hand's
on" information you hear from fellow garden sloggers here
on GW !

So here's the Big Picture: you're on Burpee's Farm, who is
trying to sell you Heronswood East, while in the barn over
there Michael Dirr is shilling HIS products, and it's all
partially sponsored by The Garden Conservancy (which I
strongly support), but the GC in turn is heavily sponsored
by Fine Gardening magazine and - you guessed it! - Burpee!
Can anyone say "symbiosis". . . ?

Carl

Thanks Carl, turns out I didn't get to go. Though I can't say first hand, I think your review is right on the money. Sounds pretty much what I expected. Still I would like to see it first hand, especially the perennial garden you describe.