Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?


February's my least favourite month - to me it's gloomier than November, feels so much longer than January and deliberately gets in the way of much nicer things like my birthday and wedding anniversary in March. Not to mention Spring.

I thought some good company's needed to brighten things up a bit and what could be better than a dinner party? Don't worry about the food, music, whether the dining room needs decorating or indeed the weather (though you can tell us about all that if you want), I'd love to see who's on your guest list - of course they must have an interest in gardening or nature. You can invite figures from the past, present, future or a mix; celebrity, learned or your gardening buddies - it's up to you. Anything goes, though do keep it to 3-5 guests because I want you to be able to hear all the gossip so you can tell us all about it. I'm also interested in why you've chosen them and any thoughts you have on anything which might happen. It doesn't matter if you've never met any of them before - let your imagination and the power of the internet rule!

The date's set for Saturday February 7th, and I'll try and set up Mr Linky for it once I've figured out what to do - he's especially useful for us to gatecrash drop in on everyone else. Don't worry if you can't make Saturday, I'll put a link to this post in the sidebar on the right so you can easily catch up and find the meme and of course Mr Linky will be able to accept any latecomers.

The RSVP on my dinner invitation is for you to say you'd like to take part via my comments - the more the merrier :D

Comments

  1. Anna2 February 2009 at 10:09

    I will be delighted to entertain some dinner party guests on Saturday VP. It's alright for you to to say ''don't worry about the food" but I am :) Now I must dash to get some invititations off, face the housework, give the garden a complete facelift etc,etc !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous2 February 2009 at 11:45

    I hope the snow has gone by then so that the guests can get through. I'm off to compose my list!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Helen/patientgardener2 February 2009 at 12:10

    Will get my thinking cap on

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shirley2 February 2009 at 12:46

    Hi there VP, I was wondering what your challenge would be :-D

    Oh very interesting... yes the thinking cap has to go on for this one. Yes, we'll assume that nothing will stop our guests from arriving shall we?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Susan Tomlinson2 February 2009 at 12:57

    Ooh! Ooh! I'll play!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rose2 February 2009 at 13:06

    I agree, VP, that February is the cruellest month of all! A dinner party sounds wonderful; I may have to postpone mine till Sunday, as I have plans for Saturday, but I'll start thinking of a guest list. I hope your snow melts by then, so your guests won't have any trouble getting there. I'd better start cleaning my house:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mrs Mac2 February 2009 at 13:19

    Gosh! What a wonderful idea!!! I shall have do this!!



    ahhhh.... your blog veri. thing says "twitel". That's what baby blackbirds do.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous2 February 2009 at 14:09

    Hi VP, we are going out of town and I was wondering if a post would get written for then. Will try to get ready!
    Frances

    ReplyDelete
  9. Arabella Sock2 February 2009 at 16:01

    I've been thinking about this all day - it is quite a challenge but fun! I think my guests will need rather a lot of wine. I certainly will!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gail2 February 2009 at 18:09

    Thinking about it! gail

    ReplyDelete
  11. Juliet2 February 2009 at 23:40

    I'll have to think about this one - I've never given a real dinner party (I've had parties, I've had the odd friend round for dinner, but "dinner party" sounds far too grown up for me, and besides, I don't cook :o ). Hmm ... virtual bring your own buffet, anyone?

    Don't worry about not having emailed - it takes me long enough to get around to emailing anyone, so I can hardly mind if other people take a while too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous3 February 2009 at 04:44

    Count me in. I'll think of something to say;) So we need to invite 5 folks huh? Let me think on that.

    ReplyDelete
  13. themanicgardener3 February 2009 at 20:02

    This is irresistible, though it does require some thought. You say I can invite anyone, living or dead? That does throw the field open, doesn't it.

    (Reminds me of the time I had a highschool class put Thoreau on trial for corrupting youth (a la Plato, you know) and said they could call witnesses from any time in history. We had Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Locke, and at least one of the founding fathers, I believe, take the stand. Great fun. For a week I hardly said a word.)
    --Kate

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mr. McGregor's Daughter4 February 2009 at 01:44

    How can I resist a challenge like this? I'll have to give it some deep thought.

    ReplyDelete
  15. "Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane4 February 2009 at 01:58

    I'm in! I will pick a restaurant in Washington, D.C. so that I don't have to cook--just get a ticket to fly out there for the evening....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Helen/patientgardener4 February 2009 at 09:02

    Did you know this post got a mention on the weekly round up on the Guardian gardening blog?
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2009/feb/03/web-roundup

    ReplyDelete
  17. VP4 February 2009 at 15:08

    Hi everyone - so glad you'll be joining in :D

    Like most of you I'm having difficulty in deciding who to invite, the list changes every couple of hours or so.

    I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

    Rose and anyone else who can't make Saturday - it's OK to play late - Mr Linky will still be around for you to add yours :)

    PG - thanks for letting me know - how exciting!

    ManicGardener - you've seen A Matter of Life and Death? If so, you must identify with the scenes where the witnesses, jury, prosecutor and defence are being chosen? It's one of my favourite films BTW.

    Daffodil Planter - welcome! So glad you'll be joining in too :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Helen @ Gardening With Confidence6 February 2009 at 02:53

    Very cool idea.

    ReplyDelete
  19. CanadianGardenJoy6 February 2009 at 12:07

    This is what comes of being a Dr. Who fan .. a VERY VIVID imagination girl ! ... This is VERY interesting indeed : ) LOL

    ReplyDelete
  20. VP6 February 2009 at 18:24

    Hi Helen and Joy - glad you like the idea :) Will you join us perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  21. joey6 February 2009 at 22:54

    Thank you for the kind invitation. Count me in! Can't wait ...

    ReplyDelete
  22. VP7 February 2009 at 08:55

    Joey - looking forward to seeing you! I see you're already doing outside catering for Karen's 'do' :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. F Cameron7 February 2009 at 12:44

    Very good idea! I like it!

    Cameron

    ReplyDelete
  24. VP7 February 2009 at 14:48

    Hi Cameron - here's hoping you want to play too!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Unknown8 February 2009 at 04:47

    I'm fashionably late, VP (I can pretend I'm in another time continuum), but I got in the TARDIS and got here only slightly behind the eight-ball. My dinner party guests are invited, and the post is at http://tinyurl.com/b6ybym . Thanks, for suggesting this! The perfect escape for winter blahs.

    ReplyDelete
  26. VP8 February 2009 at 12:41

    Hi Jodi - so glad it's cheered up the February blues and you've played along :)

    I've added your name and post URL into Mr Linky so everyone can drop in on you and your delightful guests!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Bay Area Tendrils9 February 2009 at 01:26

    Well, I am saddened to have come upon the 'dinner party' after the fact. A brilliant idea! I can only hope it will become a tradition so I can particpate next time around. Alice Joyce

    ReplyDelete
  28. VP9 February 2009 at 09:56

    Hi Alice - thanks for stopping by :) There's still time to play if you'd like to.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Commonweeder9 February 2009 at 15:13

    I didn't find this post until this am, but in fact I had a dinner party on Saturday, the 7th with four gardening friends including the expert Jerry Sternstein who has over 300 hardy rhododendrons in his garden in the upper elevations of Massachusetts. Not to mention the dozens of lilacs, deciduous azaleas, tree peonies and delicious vegetable garden. And I was able to serve FRESH greens that I bought that morning at the Second Annual Winter Farmers Market in Greenfield. Amazing amount of producing including fresh greens and an equally amazing number of hungry shoppers. We are hoping for more than a single annual market.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Michelle9 February 2009 at 17:44

    Well, I'm late to the party because I didn't hear about it until the last minute, but I'm coming and bringing some great guests! Be there soon...

    ReplyDelete
  31. VP13 February 2009 at 20:12

    Pat - so you actually did this for real :) And served fresh greens too - I'm very impressed!

    Michelle - great, see you sooooooon!

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more