The trip was paid for  by Allen’s sponsors. Many thanks to the wonderful products of Corona Tools, Garden Safe, Stihl, Berry, Laguna Ponds, Bonnie Plants, Easy Gardener, and Proven Winners.  I, too, am a fan of each of these products.

I’ll also bow to Foxgloves, Inc. for providing us the most stylish and comfortable garden gloves I’ve tried. They also made a great photo op.

All in all, all things Allen are good.

The attendees:

The Garden Home Retreat at Moss Mountain Farm

Overlooking the Arkansas River Valley, the Garden Home Retreat at Moss Mountain Farm encompasses more than 650 acres. The centerpiece is the cottage, a Greek Revival-inspired abode designed and built in an earth-friendly manner and appointed with a well-edited mix of modern furnishings and pieces from Allen’s collection of Southern antiques. Directly behind the cottage is the croquet lawn, which is bookended with a summer kitchen and art studio. The twin clapboard structures boast Rumford fireplaces and large, four-panel sliding glass doors to be opened up for maximum viewing.

The surrounding land includes a fountain garden that separates two wings of terraced garden rooms filled with annuals, perennials, heritage roses, trees, shrubs and ornamental grasses planted along pathways and borders, in raised beds framed with espaliered ‘Gala’ apple and ‘Keifer’ pear trees, and growing on whimsical arbors and other structures. An orchard filled with heritage apple trees runs along the back of the lower terrace garden, while a short stroll away is the one-acre vegetable garden and a blueberry parterre planted with 1,700 blueberry plants in 67 varieties, plus a selection of stone fruit trees such as peaches, plums, nectarines and apricots. Wildflower meadows, pastures that are home to numerous breeds of heritage chickens and turkeys, as well as Dorper sheep, Moose the donkey and Trudy, Allen’s driving mare, and daffodil hill, which overflows with more than 200,000 daffodils each spring rounds out the expansive, breathtaking property. Various outbuildings, from barns to mobile chicken homes, are located throughout the grounds and surrounding pastures.

About Little Rock, Arkansas

The capital of Arkansas, Little Rock is also the largest city in the state, with a metro-area population of more than one-half million. Little Rock derives its name from French explorer Bènard de LaHarpe, who sailed up the Arkansas River and, upon seeing the first rock bluff since leaving the Mississippi River, called it “La Petite Roche.” What remains today of the rock formation is located at Riverfront Park, a 33-acre urban park that spans the south shore of theArkansas River. Along with “La Petit Roche,” Riverfront Park is also home to sculpture and rose gardens, nature trails, a history pavilion that details Little Rock’s rich history, the landmark Junction Bridge—which was recently transformed into a pedestrian bridge—and myriad other unique spots to take in the breathtaking vistas of the Arkansas River and beyond.

Downtown Little Rock is the epicenter of the city’s cultural and entertainment offerings, with the River Market District taking center stage. Once a desolate landscape of abandoned buildings, this 10-block area underwent a dramatic restoration in the mid-1990s and is now filled with a variety of shops, art galleries, restaurants, bars, and commercial and residential developments. The focal point of the River Market District is Ottenheimer Market Hall, which is home to 15 merchants offering delectable food from around the world, specialty items and more. And from May to October each year, the Market Hall is home to the Little Rock Farmers Market.

Designated one of 10 Great Streets for 2009 by the American Planning Association’s Great Places in America Program, President Clinton Avenue is the picturesque main artery through the River Market District. Named for former Arkansas governor and 42nd president William Jefferson Clinton, the street leads visitors to the Clinton Presidential Center and Park, which includes the Clinton Presidential Library, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and the Clinton Presidential Foundation’s Little Rock office. In addition to the archival collection and research facilities, the library features interactive exhibits, replicas of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room, and other educational opportunities, such as a 100-foot-long timeline presenting the day-to-day work of the president.

About the Capital Hotel

The Capital Hotel was borne of an idea of what the greatest sort of luxury hotel could be in the late 1800s. Sporting, of all things, an elevator large enough to bear a guest and his horse upstairs, a state-of-the-art communications system (the “magnetic annunciator”) and proudly displaying the first electric light fixture to be found in a hotel in the South, a local matron declared the hotel “a capital enterprise located in a capital building.” The name stuck.

The Capital was a beacon to Southern culture in its day, and over the decades, it was continuously reinvented to characterize the very best of the South for each time. Today is no different. A family of third-generation Arkansans has lovingly renovated and refreshed the 1877 Italianate hotel and its cast-iron façade. Two restaurants grace the hotel, including Ashley’s, which features chef Lee Richardson’s “New Americana” fine dining, and the Capital Bar & Grill, a city favorite specializing in Southern comfort food and good company.

Other cultural and entertainment destinations in the River Market and surrounding area include:

Heifer International Headquarters and Global Village: Founded in 1944, Heifer is a non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to ending world hunger and caring for the earth by providing livestock, trees, training and other resources to assist struggling families, towns and villages around the globe. The Platinum LEED-certified campus includes the Murphy Keller Education Center, where visitors, staff, volunteers and the international development community can come together to learn more about world hunger, poverty, solutions currently being employed to combat those problems, and Heifer’s mission to seek solutions in the worldwide effort to end hunger and poverty.

Arkansas Arts Center: Founded in 1960, the Arkansas Arts Center is committed to building a collection of unique works on paper, primarily American and European, from the Renaissance to the present. Among the most recognizable works in the collection are sheets by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alison Saar, Rembrandt and Rubens. The Arts Center Collection also features 135 drawings and watercolors by the Post-Impressionist Paul Signac, over 100 Post-Minimalist drawings, Arthur Dove’s Sketchbook “E”, and nearly 80 works by Will Barnet. Masterworks in the collection include paintings by Diego Rivera, Odilon Redon and Francesco Bassano; sculpture by Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson and Roy Lichtenstein; and prints by Rembrandt, Whistler and Dürer. The second major area of collecting is contemporary objects in craft media, including teapots by contemporary artists, contemporary baskets, turned wood objects, studio glass, ceramics, metalwork and jewelry designed by artists. Among the highlights are works by Dale Chihuly, Albert Paley, Peter Voulkos and Dorothy Gill Barnes.

Historic Arkansas Museum: The Historic Arkansas Museum is a historic site museum of Arkansas’ frontier days. Five pre-Civil War houses, on their original block, are restored to antebellum appearances so you can learn about life in pre-Civil War Arkansas. Guided tours of the historic houses encounter living history actors, making it easy to step back in time and learn about the history of Arkansas. The Historic Arkansas Museum center features the museum’s outstanding collection of Arkansas-made decorative, mechanical and fine arts objects in six galleries. You’ll also find a wonderful museum store, living-history theater, educational areas and much more.

Old State House Museum: The Old State House Museum is the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. Construction on the building began in 1833 and was declared complete in 1842. The Greek Revival building was commissioned by Territorial Governor John Pope, who selectedKentucky architect Gideon Shryock to create plans for the Arkansas capitol. The State House served as Arkansas’ capitol until 1911, when the construction on the current capitol was completed, and became a museum in 1947. Permanent exhibits include As Long as Life Shall Last: The Legacy of Arkansas Women, On the Stump: Arkansas Political History, First Families: Mingling of Politics and Culture and The Period Rooms, which features five parlors and one hallway depicting different eras of furniture and decorative styles ranging from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. These rooms are examples of some of the earliest exhibits in the museum.

Museum of Discovery: Arkansas’ science and history museum, the Museum of Discovery is fun for kids and adults alike to explore the wonders of nature, science, technology and history through permanent hands-on exhibits, collections, events and educational programs. Permanent exhibits and collections include Arkansas Indians, Energy!, Bug Zoo, multicultural masks, more than 50 animal species and one of the largest Kewpie collections in the world.

The Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center: The Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center is focused on the wide variety of outdoor recreational opportunities that Arkansas’s fish and wildlife resources provide. The location along the Arkansas River allows many viewable wildlife activities within an urban area. Basking water turtles, butterflies and migrating pelicans are common sights.

Little Rock Central High School Historical Site: In 1957, Central High School became a crucial battleground in the struggle for civil rights as the “Little Rock Nine” attempted to enter the previously all-white school. Little Rock came to symbolize the federal government’s commitment to eliminating separate systems of education for blacks and whites. The new Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center opened in September 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of the high school’s desegregation.

Quapaw Quarter: This section of Little Rock is home to the city’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods, with as many as 15 National Historic Districts making up the nine-square-mile area. The Quapaw Quarter boasts more than 200 homes and businesses listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in architectural styles ranging from Antebellum and Victorian to Craftsman. Notable spots in the Quapaw Quarter include the governor’s mansion, Mount Holly Cemetery, MacArthur Park and the Villa Marre, an extravagant Italianate and Second Empire-style home that was featured in the television show Designing Women.