The three weeks of travel are over and it feels good to have some rest! I will start posting about some of the fun places I traveled and experienced, and I will start with St. Francisville, Louisiana.

For those of you who don't know, St. Francisville is a charming little town in South Louisiana just north of Baton Rouge. They have many old plantation homes and a lively community that loves to celebrate their unique heritage and architecture. One of the celebrations includes the Southern Garden Symposium headed by Dr. Neil Odenwald with the help this year of a wonderful person named Tracey and her husband.

Dr. Odenwald gathers a host of speakers for talks and presentations given at the old plantations, ruins, and in historic churches in the town. The first talk I visited was that of Mr. Haskell Eargle at the Afton Villa Ruins off of Highway 61. Haskell designed the flowers for the Academy Awards for many years and delighted us all with wonderful arrangements and his great sense of humor. The ruins in which he spoke were filled with little treasures, like colors of this old stone bench that were created with different mosses and lichens and a dusting of spanish moss. There were elements of purposeful design mixed in to accentuate the natural landscape. It was decided by the current owners that most of the structures at Afton Villa would remain in their ruined state, but sections of the garden were restored to their formal splendor.

After Haskell's talk, I drove over to the Episcopal Church to hear Ferguss Garrett present on designing garden beds "The Dixter Way." It was an historic church, with all sorts of colorful greys, greens, and blues covering its architecture.Fergus is now in charge of The Great Dixter in England and has continued on works begun by Christopher Loyd. Christopher Loyd was the garden designer not only know for his non-traditional color combinations, but also his uses of texture and unique architecture in garden settings. Ferguss spoke at Jackson Hall of Grace Episcopal Church. The church is located in an old cemetery. Here a row of spider lily foliage begins to emerge lining one old plot of tombstones.The early American cemetery on the grounds of the church had suffered some large tree damage from the last hurricane. I collected some Spanish moss that had fallen on the ground.

I spoke the next day at Hemingbough. By the end of my talk (the last of the presentations) I was tired and so were the rest of the attendees. I cleaned up after my talk and drove to the tea in town at a restored 1890's home. By the time I arrived, everyone had left. There were a few sandwhiches left and the hosts prepared me a plate. That night I slept wonderfully on the plantation just north of town.

It was a splendid weekend, but by the time I made the drive home on Sunday afternoon I was worn out and ready for a rest. I had Monday to work on the farm, but that Tuesday was my talk in Monroe, Louisiana and the grand tour began again. More to come...