I ’ve heard the terminus “ Southern hospitality ” and yet never having travel to”the South ” I have n’t had the opportunity to experience it . Until now . Last week I attended P. Allen Smith ’s Garden2Grow atMoss Mountain Farm . The two - day event brought together gardening influencers with P. Allen Smith ’s brand partner to have an opened give-and-take about how to partake in the love life of organic and sustainable gardening practices with nurseryman everywhere . Our small group was fed like royalty and regale even better , and I learned a destiny about the charismatic valet de chambre who has been pile up roses and save heritage poultry breeds for 25 old age .
P. Allen Smith
Allen is a true southerly gentleman’s gentleman and a passionate gardener , whose love of history can be seen throughout every column inch of Moss Mountain Farm , the set for hisstylish gardening television shows . Over the two days that Allen tour us around his farm , I learned why this humans had captivated so many hoi polloi around the populace . He give care . He cares about constitutive garden , growing better and healthier food , about the sustainability of the flowers that decorate the table , and the history of the land .
He showed his passion for write rose varieties and inheritance poultry , on a mission to ensure that they do n’t face extinction . And he intimately eff about every heyday , leaf , and plumage on his farm . When you see a figure like that on television you inquire how much is posturing and how much is real . Allen is authentically the creative head , manner ikon , and expert that he appear to be .
Moss Mountain Farm
Moss Mountain Farm is a classic American farm locate 40 minutes from Little Rock , Arkansas . There is no moss to be determine on the property ; the farm was named for the previous proprietor as a nod to the story of the land . P. Allen Smith purchased the 500 - Accho dimension and build the estate around a 350 - twelvemonth old oak lovingly call “ the Big Sister . ” There are many other historical plants around the property , from the 100 - twelvemonth - old fig tree that is honored in its own orbitual garden , to the inheritance roses that Allen has displayed throughout the rosaceous marquee . While the garden do look manicured and intentional , it ’s all due to space . Allen is a self - professed plant hoarder who ca n’t throw anything off . Each of the beauties in his collection of roses has meaning and story , which he will stormily discourse with anyone who asks .
Poultry Village
The farm has over 2000 year of story from the heritage strain of chickens , geese , ducks , and turkey . There are even swans that swim in the ponds around the property .
Allen knows each of the breeds intimately and champions the preservation of inheritance species through his on - air education and the Heritage Poultry Conservatory , which serve to hold the education and deal for heritage poultry breeds so that they do n’t give way out .
The Vegetable Gardens
The garden showcased a plethora of ornamental gardening applications , from espalier to companion institute with edible flowers . The chief vegetable garden was hidden behind an ethereal asparagus hedging and flank by a number of small , artfully designed garden filled with edible plants . garden cart container gardens and tiered strawberry mark planter show the originative ways that produce can be beautiful .
Containers as Features
One matter I love to do in my home garden is plant containers as garden features . It seems that many mass think that container are only for balcony gardeners or small spaces . Yes , I do garden on a modest urban muckle and containers do help with the distance issue , but I also use container to showcase special plants , to line garden beds , and to create visual interest .
There were some endearing examples of containers at Moss Mountain Farm that added to the ornamental nature of the garden . Many of these containers , although they look like stone or ceramic , are ego - lacrimation batch fromCrescent Garden .
The Little Details
While you may not have a huge garden at home , nor the time or the staff to keep space as impressive as Moss Mountain Farm , there are always ideas that can be brought home to any garden . TheSunpatienson the porch are the precise tad of salmon garden pink that the patio furniture was painted , a subtle point that makes a lot of impact .
The spaces may be vast but they ask round you to enjoy them . A rotary urine feature is fence in by white roses that shine in the evening lighting , making it a welcoming spot for evening entertaining . The roseate garden is shaped like a sports stadium that reserve the fragrance of the many roses to give ear in the air and perfume the ramp down to the garden . The firepit ’s well-to-do chairman appropriate you to tarry while you listen to the baying of the sheep in the pasture beyond . The hedges have peek - a - boo lookout cut into them , which reveal a unparalleled perspective on the farm .
Southern Hospitality
I go far with the expectation that we would be well treat , but I could have never reckon the level to which that statement was true . Everyone I met from the South took the metre to learn my name and expend it often while babble out to me . They were gracious hosts — comical and welcoming — and not at all stodgy . Just a few hours upon arriving , I felt as if I was transported to another sentence . Tables were fix with flowered eye - candy and the solid food welcomed you to dig in with vigour , sip teatime or vino , and portion stories like you would with old Friend . Allen can for certain project a garden political party worth talk about but I ’ll share my photograph and take on that next week .
The two mean solar day at the farm were a chance to get to get laid the beauty of the orbit , a peek into the history that Allen has maintain , and an chance to talk with both other horticulture influencers and business about how to cultivate connections with “ the why ” : why you garden and why gardening is meaningful to you .
I ’ve shared my “ why ” story ( here ) of how gardening helped me rehabilitate from grievous illness . Gardening keep my trunk and mind sharp and help with the chronic pain sensation and fatigue duty that I have been fight since the Clarence Day that I short became ill . From the intimate talks with everyone at the farm , I know there are many others whose “ why ” has taken a unlike route .
I will be inviting some of my newfangled friends to apportion some of those stories here and I would care to invite you as well to share your chronicle . We all have a different reason for gardening , yet as a collective group of gardeners , we come up together as family , garden for therapy and the many other things that it brings us .
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