Photo by Brian Gassel/TVS Designs

12. Sir Walter

A few days into the 2009 Garden Writers Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina, a fellow garden writer glanced up at the statue in front of the convention centre that we’d passed about a million times and realized it was Sir Walter Raleigh. I’m not sure what took us so long to make the connection between the city we were visiting and Q.E. I’s infamous explorer and wouldn-be colonist, but once the penny dropped, we discovered a plethora of allusions to the city’s namesake, including the surreal Sir Walter Wrap at Sam & Wally’s Eatery. But of all things Raleigh-esque, I’ll most remember walking through the historic Oakwood neighbourhood to attend the TweetUp that took place in one of the neighbourhood’s charming gardens, sampling Raleigh-style barbecue at the JC Raulston Arboretum and tasting scuppernongs at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market. Thanks, Raleigh, for hosting such a great symposium!

10. Play Checks
My family, friends and most passersby who spy the newspaper on the front porch at 9 a.m. know that I’m not a morning person. So, when I dragged myself out of bed to attend the 8 a.m. keynote speech at the 2009 Garden Writers Symposium in Raleigh, I sincerely hoped it would be worthwhile. My hopes were almost dashed when Dr. Lowell Catlett stood up on stage and started talking about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - yikes, I thought, did I get out of bed for a college lecture?

Mercifully, Dr. Catlett’s homespun storytelling technique made his speech on the Greening of America (or Canada?) entertaining and the messages he delivered all the more compelling. He used Maslow’s pyramid to show how we’ve gone from needing to make a living to having a lifestyle – all in just three generations. In the middle of the pyramid are the Baby Boomers: “the first mass-educated generation on the planet and the first generation with no conception of retirement.” We’re the generation who wants play checks not pay checks.

So, what does all this mean? It means we have more freedom to pursue our dreams than ever before, and those dreams may lead us to raise chickens in the city, pursue eco-adventures anywhere in the world or move into a retirement home with our cats if that’s what we cherish. For garden writers like me, Catrell’s parting message was: “Do not sell people products and services. Sell them dreams.” Well, how difficult can that be when gardening is really an expression of our personal dreams and aspirations?