Comments on shirls gardenwatch: A great BIG smile

how fabulous!! Great pics. thx for sharing.

2008-07-08T03:16:00.000+01:00

how fabulous!! Great pics. thx for sharing.

Hi there Karen, Viooltje, Balisha, Kerri and Sue :...

2008-07-07T17:14:00.000+01:00

Hi there Karen, Viooltje, Balisha, Kerri and Sue :-)

Karen – Thank-you. It was a lovely day and I am delighted with my new plant. I read your post meeting VP and thoroughly enjoyed it too. I am guessing you could have the same very heavy rain as we are having. Have a good week :-D

Viooltje – Thank-you, what a generous comment :-D I am glad you enjoyed our postings and I do hope I can share more of Scotland with you in the future. I was out and about today filming red squirrels and birds. I also have images that you may enjoy from another garden for a future posting. Have a good week :-D

Balisha – Thanks, yes we did and yes there will be many gardens like mine I agree. I smiled to read your comment about the gun to set your husband’s watch – that would be a wonderful turn around for technology ;-) Have a good week :-D

Kerri – Thank-you, it was fun meeting and posting too. I didn’t have the video idea when we met. It only came to me the following weekend and I am so glad it did. We only saw bits of the garden in the time but I agree it was a great setting. I decided my daughters’ comments just had to be part of my posting when it amused Yolanda and Gerda so much. I never posted what was actually said ;-) Have a good week :-D

Sue – You comment did make me laugh! I too have a very similar memory ‘waiting up’ for my parents around the same age. They bring this back to me often!! Apparently I stood at the top of the stair with my hands on my hips and exclaimed ‘What time do you call this?’ or very similar. I too was very worried as I knew they crossed a river alongside a railway line! The mobile phone is a wonderful thing now – even they have one now I made sure of that ;-) Have a good week :-D

Isn't it wonderful when your kids start worrying a...

2008-07-06T18:47:00.000+01:00

Isn't it wonderful when your kids start worrying about you for the same reasons you worry about them? When I was seventeen my parents went out for thir once a year dinner dance and didn't come back till 2am. I was frantic. I never, ever came home late without phoning after that!

Shirl, what a fun day you both had, and fun for us...

2008-07-06T04:07:00.000+01:00

Shirl, what a fun day you both had, and fun for us to share the day by reading the two different points of view, and seeing the photos.
You had a great idea to go back and film the videos. The gardens are fantastic, and the perfect setting for your meeting.
Your daughters' concern made me smile :)

What fun you must have had. A great idea to buy a...

2008-07-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

What fun you must have had. A great idea to buy a plant to remember the day. I think a lot of us gardeners have memory gardens of a sort....Mom's plant, something from Grandma or a neighbor. My husband would love the "One O'Clock Gun" His watch has to be correct within a second. He is kept busy when the power goes off and he has to change all the clocks. Glad you had a good time.

Thanks to Yolanda, I have also found my way to the...

2008-07-05T08:06:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Yolanda, I have also found my way to the 'lady answering the mobile phone'. I can only say we are certainly relieved to find out Yolanda is not a dodgy lady hiding behind her blissful blog LOL. It must be quite delightful for two outstanding people (mind you, gardeners ARE outstanding) to turn their blogging correspondence into one great friendship. And all that in the extraordinary place that Edinburgh is. I enjoyed reading both of yours' point of view, I have been infatuated with Scotland since my first wandering about the Highlands, and Edinburgh remains one of my favourite places in the world, ever. And I'm glad I ran into such a great gardening blog, keep up the great work and may your friendship with Yolanda bloom as nicely as your garden.
Cheers,
Violet

Such a lovely post. I am so pleased you had a good...

2008-07-04T23:34:00.001+01:00

Such a lovely post. I am so pleased you had a good time - and what a good idea to buy a plant to celebrate your meeting with Yolanda Elizabet.
It is lovely to meet with a fellow garden blogger. I felt the same joy when I met up with VP (Veg Plotting)
Regards
Karen

Hi there Frances, Lisa, Jane-Marie, Carol, guid-re...

2008-07-04T23:34:00.000+01:00

Hi there Frances, Lisa, Jane-Marie, Carol, guid-rez and Robin :-)

Frances – It was great to meet up and walking around the space of a botanical garden was the way to go to chat at the same time as we did. It is great that we could share our visit. I am sure you would love Scotland too – especially the many shade loving plants like the meconopsis as Yolanda says is growing in so many gardens – mine too! I would love to come to the US but the timing of the fling conflicts with very important preparation/exams here for my daughter – only 3 more years to go. After that I might even revisit Chelsea too! Have a great weekend :-D

Lisa – Thank-you, I can revisit this garden quite easily but I wanted to do the videos for Yolanda and hoped others would enjoy them too. It really was great to get together, that bench was wonderful and there was more than one and they were all tucked in with the plants . There were many things I thought about the primula including the fact that as it matures the rings of flowers increased – I saw that like a friendship too. I am guessing that you put two and two together that we were meeting up as I have posted on the Botanics before and suggested I had something to tell on a couple of posts. As Yolanda said this really was a very frantic last minute arrangement before she left. She went on Holiday again so soon on her return from Scotland there was little time to properly post on our meeting so we decided to leave it until her return. Thanks, it did go well :-D Have a great weekend :-D

Jane-Marie – Lol the video camera was in my bag as we went around the garden. I returned the next week to film. We did find some similarities but most of all we just clicked and chatted about all sorts. Yes, I do think we will try to meet again. I will be going to Holland for the next Floriade in 2012 so if we don’t meet up before maybe then. I am delighted you enjoyed the tour too. Have a great weekend :-D

Carol – Yes it was and so last minute too. Yes, the chat was non stop as were the plants! Lol the thing is over here children are told so much to be so careful on the internet and seriously discouraged from meeting anyone no matter how nice they seemed. One of my daughters even suggested Yolanda could have been a man! I think I forgot to tell her that. Yes, we garden Bloggers are certainly characters – dodgy to some perhaps ;-) Have a great weekend :-D

Guid-rez – It is and I always forget it has so many areas of planting. Yes, it was a great place for wandering, chatting and new memories. Have a great weekend :-D

Robin – We did, as I said above it was very last minute and I am so glad it all fitted in as it did. It would have been a shame if we missed the opportunity. Yes, poor Yolanda probably didn’t get as many pics as she could have but she did get some as you will have seen on her blog. Have a great weekend :-D

Ladyluz – Thank-you! Yes, it was fun posting at the same time I am glad you enjoyed it that way. Before going to the Garden Centre I really didn’t have a plant in mind but looking back at our meeting later it really was the only one to get. Had I not had meconopsis already I might have bought that as we saw so many clumps of them too. Have a great weekend :-D

Hi Shirl - marvellous post and reading Yolanda's a...

2008-07-04T18:46:00.000+01:00

Hi Shirl - marvellous post and reading Yolanda's and yours in tandem was a special treat.

It's a lovely idea marking your meeting with a special new plant for your garden and you picked the perfect one.

Sounds like you two hit it off! The most telling s...

2008-07-04T05:02:00.000+01:00

Sounds like you two hit it off! The most telling sign is that you left your camera in the bag, content to talk.

A wonderful botanical garden, a great place to mee...

2008-07-04T02:49:00.000+01:00

A wonderful botanical garden, a great place to meet each other and long lasting memories.
-cheers.

How fun! It sounds like a great time, and lots to...

2008-07-04T01:06:00.000+01:00

How fun! It sounds like a great time, and lots to see and talk about. Yes, we garden bloggers are a lot of "dodgy characters", aren't we?

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

I wish I could have a been a little bug riding alo...

2008-07-04T00:53:00.000+01:00

I wish I could have a been a little bug riding along on your camera and listening in on the conversation. I'm interested to know if you discovered you had a lot in common other than gardening? Will you continue to try to meet again on another trip? It sounds like a lot of fun to meet someone like that.
As for the tour, well who could even comment. It was just too perfect!

Shirl the videos do much justice to your visit wit...

2008-07-03T22:57:00.000+01:00

Shirl the videos do much justice to your visit with YE. You are lucky ladies to have been able to get together. I can see why you both liked the bench so. It blends in well with all the palms and ferns. Your choice of plant to remember your visit together is just perfect.

I was beginning to wonder if all went according to plan since neither of you had posted about your meeting and tour. I am so glad all went well.

Oh Shirl, you and YE are both so lucky to meet and...

2008-07-03T21:02:00.000+01:00

Oh Shirl, you and YE are both so lucky to meet and at such a masterpiece of a garden. I am indeed green with envy, but feel that I was tagging along, invisible, from the descriptions, photos and video. Someday I will go to Scotland and I hope if you come to the US we might get to meet. Maybe next year's fling in Chicago?

Hi again Yolanda, Layanee, Gail and Nancy :-)Yolan...

2008-07-03T20:48:00.000+01:00

Hi again Yolanda, Layanee, Gail and Nancy :-)

Yolanda – Thank-you for your wonderful company. I’m a delighted I could leave you with some more images of the garden and our day. This post will be great to look back on and yes I too will thing of Gerda when I next her the one o’clock gun ;-D These candelabra primulas were stunning and I found a few more beautiful plantings on little paths as I walked on my return visit that I included in the video. Lol, I couldn’t miss out the dodgy character story!! Have a great weekend :-D

Layanee – We were lucky that Yolanda’s tour fitted in with where I could get to. Yes, I thought the dodgy character reference would get a few chuckles! Oh… one day I just may visit the States. It could be a few years off at the moment though. It would be nice to meet up with you and some of the many American garden Bloggers I have enjoyed e-meeting!! One day… Have a great weekend :-D

Gail – Thank-you, it really was great fun meeting up and so last minute too. It really was a wonderful day. Have a great weekend :-D

Nancy – It was, it really was and quite unexpected. We only arranged it just days before Yolanda left. It nearly didn’t happen though as I originally gave her my Mum’s mobile instead of mine and she never has it on much! Glad you enjoyed the Rockery. I have memories of visiting it as a child when the scale of it was quite different than it is to me now! Have a great weekend :-D

How wonderful that you got to meet! And your tour...

2008-07-03T20:19:00.000+01:00

How wonderful that you got to meet! And your tour was outstanding, especially liked the Rockery - thanks!

What a lovely post and how much fun to meet a gard...

2008-07-03T17:53:00.000+01:00

What a lovely post and how much fun to meet a gardenblog friend at a garden.

Gail
clay and limestone

Shirl: You are both so lucky! I did chuckle at t...

2008-07-03T16:01:00.000+01:00

Shirl: You are both so lucky! I did chuckle at the dire warnings of your daughters! As if someone with a garden like YE's could be dodgy at all! When are you coming to the States?

Dear Shirl, thank you so very much for this lovely...

2008-07-03T15:26:00.000+01:00

Dear Shirl, thank you so very much for this lovely post and the wonderful vids you made of Edinburgh's beautiful botanical gardens. What fun that that very special instrument in the Palmhouse started playing when you were there to record it. It's lovely, music from the plants!

Reading your post brought back so many happy memories, like the exact time that big gun went off when we were walking down Princess street and Gerda was the first to notice it.

Looking at all the lovely vids brought back great memories (zillions of candelabra primulas!) of 2 blissful hours at the Botanical gardens! I must come again to see the rest too. :-)

BTW what a relief to read that I'm not a dodgy character. ;-)