Ashville: Day one and the Fling begins

BY SKEETER

Blue Ridge Mountains

The Saint and I left our Georgia Gardens to partake in a little adventure. This adventure took us to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Asheville, NC was our destination. We found a wonderful city full of Gardens (Click HERE to learn more about Asheville Gardens), Art, Friendly people and a thriving Downtown.

Biltmore House Gates



This was our first trip to Asheville and our main goal; Attend our first Garden Bloggers Spring Fling! I have read many Fling post's of past with envy. With this years Fling being an easy drive for us, we decided it was time to partake in the fun and meet some bloggers that I have been chatting with for years. What a great chance to knock off a "Bucket List" item by seeing Biltmore and also putting faces to Blog names!

Biltmore House

 We arrived a day early so we could tour Biltmore house. I have toured many castles while living in Europe but this one was like non other to me. This one had more of a warm homey feel verses cold stone castle feeling to me.

To the right of the main entrance was my favorite part of the entire house. The Winter Garden of course.

I could not help but think of some of the European Cathedrals when seeing the Architecture of this magnificent house. Yes, I said house. It is the largest house in America! Today's Post will be rather filled so I will not talk further about the house. If you are interested in learning more, Please Click HERE.



Biltmore Water Gardens

   The water Gardens are one level below the house. We did not take time looking at the gardens as we knew that was on the itinerary during the Fling. We did stroll along the upper level of the 3 Water Gardens on our way back to the car.                         

A close up of the island in one of the gardens.

Iris in the island

More pretties in the island. Anyone that knows me on this Blog will tell you that I am NOT the one to ask about flower types. I shall leave that for our Master Gardener, Tina...

Tina was near by with most pictures I snapped so you may see overlapping pictures. But I think overlapping can be a good thing as you will see two different views and takes of the same thing...

Biltmore Tea House
Wow, the views were spectacular and I can see why the Biltmore family fell in love with North Carolina.

The Saint and his chicken!

 The only time I am sure to get a smile out of the Saint with a camera in his face, is when he is near an animal. I must admit this brought a smile to my face as well. I have never seen anyone pick up a darn chicken and love on the thing like the Saint. Guess I shall have to call him the Chicken Whisperer now. Geesh...

Farmer Tina

                Tina wanted to fire up that old Tractor and till the land      at Biltmore Farms. Kudos to your hat maker girl.

Sow True Seeds
The Fist Fling event started out as an Open House at Sow True Seeds. Click HERE to learn more about their "Open Pollinated/Non-Hybrid and Untreated Seeds.  Here you see Flinger's Tina and Debbie in the cold room of the facility with our wonderful tour guides and Sponsors. I shall not give last names of bloggers as I failed to get permission to post.

Later that evening, we had the official Garden Bloggers Meet and Greet. Sorry but the camera never came out at that event. It was so much fun to put a face to a mere blogger name! Of course no one knew my name as I am known as "Skeeter" and that is NOT my name. LOL.

Christopher Mello's Garden



Future works of Art

 We had so many people that we had to split up into two buses. Has been about 40 years since I was on a school bus. Wow, have those seats gotten smaller or what? Our bus took us to our first stop being the Garden of Artist Christopher Mello. Here you see his surplus of materials that shall one day be pieces of art.

This Waterfall greets you as you enter his Whimsical World of Art surrounded by a circular garden.

A Lot of iron, rust and clay within his decor.

This Blue Bottle Tree glowed in the garden. I have seen many Bottle Trees on different Blogs but never one with the Tree itself being painted!

The Blue Bottles glowed with the sun shining upon them.

With Art, One must use their imagination at times. I have a good imagination and for some reason, I could see this contraption as a type bomb that would creep along the sea floor and into a ship of another era. Just my vision.

Again, I see some type of Military war head that missed its target.

I cannot tell you how many times we have burn such a beautiful piece of wood. In the Garden such as this, not trashy wood but a work of art. I shall view old wooden pieces a bit differently now.

This is not only a place to display works of art but a beautiful garden filled with color as well.

Look at this beautiful Poppy!

Works of Art incorporated with Flowers.

This reminds me of an old Farm house and Barn. Do you get that?

A Farm Implement at some point maybe?

Now a planter full of Succulents.

This piece reminds me of a Gladiator's weapon.

Or did inspiration come from this beautiful bloom? Hum, See how my imagination works in an art/garden?

Christopher was sure to let us know he likes purples and blues in his gardens.

Black Mimosa

Raindrops on the Smoke tree look a bit like ice in this picture.

So pretty.

Oh so pretty indeed.

There was much talk amongst bloggers on this portion of the garden. It was interesting hearing every one's take on this garden as we all have our views. Some Art, well, I must admit, I just don't get it. But in this case, I believe I do get it. Some referred to this as the Shovel Garden due to it being surrounded by tall standing rusty shovels. This garden is centered in the middle of the entire circular property. So a sort of garden within a garden.  

Some referred to it as the Truck Garden. As we move in closer, you can see old rusty metal trucks, hence that name.

 First of all, I like to think that I am Open Minded thus, Not too quickly to judge. I like to sit back, think on things then form an opinion. But as soon as I saw this Tonka Truck Garden, I got it! Childhood memories of me and my brothers playing in the yard with Tonka Trucks came flooding into my memory bank.

We would play in the warm earth while being surrounded by my Grandmothers Peony, Wisteria vines, Iris, Rose's, etc. We were mere tots soaking up the surrounding nature as a sponge to spilt milk! Yes, that happen a lot as children too. 

To this day, I credit my gardening and nature loving to being in that back yard surrounded by nature and scraping dirt while just being a little kid playing and using my imagination.

All 3 of my brothers enjoy nature and have some sort of flower or veggie growing in their yards! Hum, Am I on to something or just letting my mind take over here?  

Today, I fear children are stuck behind a TV or Computer and are missing out on the simple things in life. I think Christopher Mello is on to something with his garden! He opens his gardens to the neighborhood children so they can play in his safe Garden while soaking up art, flowers and just plan using their imaginations! If this is what it takes to get a child into the garden so be it in my opinion. Christopher's passion for gardening is awesome and I was pleased to be able to spend some time walking through a wild meadow and learning a few things from him along the way. He is a jewel to his community in my book. Oh yes, I wrote a book today. Sorry but that is what happens at DAY ONE OF THE FLING, In the Garden...  
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden