The NARGS AGM in Ithaca featured three days of garden tours, renowned speakers on all four days, a plant sale with several great vendors, and book signings. The NARGS annual awards were also presented over the course of the conference.

All these events were wonderful, even though most of the specific alpine plant information discussed in the lectures was over my head. I freely admit that I am not an alpine or rock gardener. So why was I at this rock gardening conference?  I could have just visited Garden Conservancy open garden days on my own, watched gardening webinars on topics closer to my own interests, and purchased plants from some great nurseries on the internet or in nearby areas.

I went for the people. The conference was attended by nearly one hundred avid gardeners. The conference promotional material doesn’t convey how much fun you can have spending all that time with other gardeners. I connected with gardeners I had met previously and met many new people. I checked out members of not-that-far-away NARGS chapters I might want to join. We all ate most of our meals together, rode a bus together, looked at gardens together, bought plants together and sat together for the lectures.  We shared bug spray. We cheered for the gardeners among us who won NARGS awards for their commitment and their outstanding achievements. We applauded the gardeners who attended with their adult children. We became a community.

It is a lovely experience to be able to discuss which Rodgersia species you are looking at with other gardeners who know what a Rodgersia is. To admire a large, complex and flawlessly maintained garden with people who know the immense effort that garden represents. To debate whether you need three more epimediums with someone who is holding four weigelas. To snoop through the plants that your friends bought to see what you missed. To finally meet gardeners in person with whom you have been friends on Facebook for months or years.

The conference activities were noteworthy in their own right. The speakers were impressive. Sue Milliken and Kelly Dodson from Far Reaches Farm were my favorites, for their knowledgeable and humorous lectures. I may never hike remote Asian mountain trails in search of plants I’ve never heard of, but I enjoyed their descriptions of their experiences. They teased each other with obvious affection, shared old photos of their beaming young faces from the trip where they met, and gave us details on a few of Kelly’s sketchy adventures. Another speaker was Eleftherios Dariotis from Greece who lectured with passion about the alpine flora of Greece and his new garden in Crete. We also heard from F. Robert Wesley of Ithaca about the native orchids of New York State.

The conference garden tours were also splendid. Wednesday found us divided onto two different tour buses. The group on my bus first toured a small section of Upper Treman State Park. The morning shadows on the rocks and the sounds of the water added to the beauty of the gorge. We were there early enough to have it mostly to ourselves (just us fifty gardeners, that is).  I vowed to return for a long weekend with my husband sometime soon to explore the trails.

Our bus also visited Marlene Kobre and Ron Denson’s garden, which was filled with troughs and large rock garden beds. These were planted with small conifers and alpine specimens including many early summer bloomers. The garden was encircled by a large shrub and tree border, including dozens of Japanese maples, large conifers, colorful shrubs and perennials. There was even a dolled-up garden shed tucked into the back beyond the hosta border. This immaculate suburban garden read like a much larger property.

The last stop of our bus tour was the garden of Bill Stark and Mary Stauble.  Bill and Mary’s garden had the feel of an archaeological excavation. They have removed several tons of soil to expose the bedrock. Paths traveled down through the layers of geological time, but everywhere we were surrounded by botanical treasures. Crevices displayed choice daphnes, small ferns and alpine plants. Larger cavities contained conifers and a few xeric perennials. The sun-baked rock simmered in the heat. Winding down past the stone ledges and boulders felt like descending to the sea. A few quick steps and I was in the shade, watching a stream flow past primulas, ferns, and ligularias.  It is an amazing garden, and the winner of this year’s Linc and Timmy Foster Millstream Award.

On Thursday, we visited the Cornell Botanic Gardens to enjoy their many display areas. Friday’s on-your-own garden tour was also fun.  Unfortunately, my friend and I did not make it to Carol Eichler’s garden, due to a time constraint. We knew we would have other opportunities to do so, so that was the one we skipped. We visited two gardens that were new to us. Len and Cindy Lions’ garden was notable for the spectacular ponds and the many ornaments tucked here and there amid the perennials and shrubs, even in the woods. Their woods were traversed by a long boardwalk, taking us past decorative urns, a painted gateway to nowhere, dangling metal ornaments (like earrings for the trees) and other artwork. Mary Squyres’ garden of unusual shrubs and trees also contained many native plants tucked into its woodland setting.  Her grand entrance was especially memorable with its half-moon gate and peaked roof.

Lastly but not least, the vendors at the plant sale did not disappoint. Karen Perkins of Garden Visions, in her last year of plant sales, was there with a large table of epimediums and a few other woodland plants. Coldwater Pond Nursery always entices me with their large selection of unusual woody ornamentals. Kingbird Farms of Ithaca, Esther Benedict from Indiana, and Cornell horticulture students also had wonderful plants for sale. Some of the conference speakers also had books for sale.

If you have never attended a NARGS conference, I urge you to consider it in the future. After all, next year’s conference is in Nova Scotia!