Twitter Garden Party – March 31st #GardenParty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Kathleen Hennessy
Endless Summer News Center
Axiom Marketing Communications
(952) 224-2939 ext. 20
khennessy@axiomcom.com

Endless Summer® Twitter Garden Party – March 31st, 2:00 – 3:00 PM CENTRAL.
Here’s your chance to ask the experts all your gardening questions!

St. Paul, Minn. (March 2010) – You’re officially invited to the first ever Twitter Garden Party! On March 31st from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM Central, a panel of experts from around the country will be available to answer your gardening questions. We’ll be tweeting what’s new and what works when it comes to going green in your yard. We’ll cover everything from starting a basic herb garden to creating spectacular color containers. Join in the conversation!

The event, sponsored by the Endless Summer Collection, will feature great prizes and great advice. To be eligible to win, simply RSVP at http://greenandcleanmom.org/twitter-garden-party/, and take part in the Twitter Party using the hashtag #GardenParty. Prizes include: A $100 gift card to your local garden center, Endless Summer hydrangeas, Mud garden gloves and more.

Our experts:
Justin W. Hancock @GardeningJustin – Senior Garden Editor for BHG.com, the Better Homes and Gardens Web Site. A Certified Professional Horticulturist, Justin is a die-hard gardener who loves plants. Justin is also co-owner of Loki’s Garden Center in Des xMoines, IA.

Steve Bender @grumpy_gardener – Senior Writer for Southern Living, award winning author of “Passalong Plants” and “Callaway Gardens — Legacy Of A Dream”, and editor of the best-selling “Southern Living Garden Book.” Steve gardens in Hoover, AL.

Debra Prinzing @dkprinzing
Debra is a Los Angeles-based garden and design writer. She is the author of five books, including “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways,” and “The Abundant Garden.” Debra’s articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Garden Design, Metropolitan Home, Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens, Pacific Horticulture, Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, Cottage Living, and Fine Gardening magazines, among others.

Helen Yoest @HelenYoest
Helen is a garden coach and writer based in Raleigh, NC. She’s written for many garden and style magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Nature’s Garden, Fine Gardening, and Carolina Gardening.

Michelle Gervais
@Michelle_at_FG
Michelle is an associate editor at Fine Gardening magazine. She gardens with her husband and 4-year-old daughter in New Milford, CT and is obsessed with container gardening, plants of any kind, and garden design.

Our host:
Sommer Poquette @greenmom
Sommer is a mom who’s trying her very best to be some shade of green every single day. Like most moms, she wears many hats – mother of two young children, wife, educator, green entrepreneur, humanitarian, enthusiastic social media fanatic and blogger. She started Green & Clean Mom as a way to reach out to other moms and to learn about ways to be more Eco-savvy.

For more information on the Twitter Garden Party visit: http://greenandcleanmom.org/twitter-garden-party/

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are the official plant of Mother’s Day. This spring, purchase any Endless Summer hydrangea as a Mother’s Day gift and you could be sending Mom on a trip to the spa! Two lucky winners in the Endless Summer® Spa-Tacular Sweepstakes will receive a $500 Luxury Spa Day package, 15 will win a $100 Spa treatment gift certificate. Each plant even comes with it’s own Mother’s Day gift tag! Whether mom is an avid gardener or just wants to have a great looking outdoor space, a plant from the Endless Summer Collection is a gift she’ll enjoy for years to come.

All three members of the Endless Summer Collection are easy to grow. The bountiful blooms and compact growth habit of Twist-n-Shout, The Original and Blushing Bride make each variety an ideal plant for decorative containers, elegant as stand-alone shrubs, combined as a group or with other garden plants.

Endless Summer Mother’s Day Spa-tacular Sweepstakes entry forms are available at participating garden centers. For more information or to see official rules, log on to www.endlesssummerblooms.com.

Passalong Plants Book Review

Helen with Allan Armitage with Felder peeking over Allan's shoulder

Helen Yoest with Allan Armitage and Felder peeking over Allan's Shoulder

I’ve had Passalong Plants by Steve Bender and Felder Rushing in my garden library for a long time.  The book was first published in 1993. I recommend it often.  I’ve spent some time with Steve and I’ve met Felder.  Actually, Felder bought me a drink while in Portland to help me celebrate another successful Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour.
Both Steve and Felder have a fun and funky sense of humor…Felder’s humor is deeply rooted in the south; Steve’s got here just in time.

When in a funk, I’m likely to pick up the book and just thumb through for a laugh. Or, I’ll think of a personal favorite and see if it’s listed as one of their favs as well. Reading their personal history with the plant always makes me smile.

Their writing style is similar.  They may not agree with this summation, but I often have to check the margin to remind myself who’s doing the writing. The margin simply has either an SB or a FR to indicate the credit.

I also found it interesting when talking with Steve about the collaboration of this book.  If I’m not mistaken, they only met once to discuss the book.  The rest was over the phone – Internet wasn’t prevalent at the time.  When speaking with Steve and Felder, it hit me how they can write similar thoughts, but verbally they couldn’t be more different. Steve is short and sweet – no word is wasted. Felder likes to spin a tale even when it’s just discussing the time of day.

If you ask Steve for the time, he will tell you, “2:00,” leaving the asker to decide if it’s AM or PM. For Felder, it would go something like this, “If you look to the western sky, you will see that it’s past noon and if you take into account day light savings time, the fact that I just ate mah dinner, and I’m feelin nappish, I would put it somewhere between 1:50 and 2:10. This reminds me of the time when…..

It belongs in every southern gardener’s garden library, if not for the reference, than for the personalities the book offers.  Keep passing them along!