Last week I took a little drive to meet my blogging friends. 
~It’s true, the people we talk to on blogs don’t just live in the internet. They are real. ~ Donalyn Ketchum ( dlynz.com ), Kathy Purdy(Cold Climate Gardening), Jenn Fowler (Frugal upstate), and myself do our best to meet up every month to have lunch and talk face to face. 
This time I met with Jenn and Kathy at Kathy’s friend Bub’s house. 
She and her husband Dave have wonderful gardens they have created all around their country home which is surrounded with the rolling hills of upstate NY. 
They are in the middle of farming country where the noise is birds singing and the sounds of civilization are far away.
They have lived there for more than 20 years slowly creating their lovely landscape. It is so lush and full of perrenials that it’s hard to take in all in at once. 
Bub and Dave not only showed us around, they shared their treasured plants with us. 
Bub has plants that her mother had given her many years ago, that are still thriving.
Dave followed us with a wheelbarrow as Bub gladly dug up whatever plants we were interested in.
Bub’s (her initials) energy is amazing which you can see from taking one look around her beautiful yard.
As we were leaving, Dave told me about his hoe collection….He names them….Gung hoe, Don Hoe, and his favorite hoe…..
Anna Nicole. 
He actually has it written on the side of his largest hoe. He is too funny.
Their cottage style of gardening is my favorite so I really enjoyed seeing it and learning a whole bunch more names of plants that I will never remember again. (sorry Bub) 
We all brought home some flowering goodies to put into our own gardens. They were happy to thin out some plants and we were more than happy to help out with that. 
Bub and Dave are a lovely couple and you can see how much they enjoy each other as well as their impressive gardens that are built out of love and hard work.
Each time I look into my garden and see one of the plants they gave me, I will remember this day, the fun we had and what wonderful people they are.
~Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and meditative occupation. It is an insatiable passion, like everything else to which a man gives his heart. ~Karel Čapek
June 22nd, 2010 Teresa Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: A southern daydreamer, donalyn ketchum, garden gardening, gardening with soule, jenn fowler, kathy purdy, Outdoor Wednesday, teresa soule
June 23rd, 2010 at: 1:58 am
[...] Gardening with Soule » Blog Archive » Visiting a friend's garden [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at: 2:01 am
That garden is spectacular. Looks like you had a wonderful time visiting!
June 23rd, 2010 at: 7:14 am
We had such a fantastic time that day-and my yard looks so much better with all the plants that Bub & Dave gave me in it
June 23rd, 2010 at: 11:35 am
(this is from Buddy-Jenn’s 6 1/2 yr old son) that garden of yours is nice & pretty. I can’t wait to see it.
June 23rd, 2010 at: 2:16 pm
I can’t wait to meet you buddy!
June 23rd, 2010 at: 3:37 pm
Did any of the pictures I took with your camera turn out?
June 23rd, 2010 at: 3:55 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kathy Purdy, Teresa. Teresa said: Visiting a friend’s garden – http://tinyurl.com/2c2h478 [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at: 6:19 pm
Wow, I loved the tour – thanks for sharing! Don’t you love it when you get plants from friends? I love the memories behind them!
June 23rd, 2010 at: 6:20 pm
They did Kathy, I put one in the blog post of me and Bub that you had taken.
June 23rd, 2010 at: 6:35 pm
Those are the best plants to have, those given by someone else…wonderful gardens, thanks for sharing them with us….I have yet to meet a blogging friend face to face…Are you sure they aren’t just in my computer?
Mama Bear
June 23rd, 2010 at: 6:40 pm
You have to like a gardener who names his hoes! Love that!
June 23rd, 2010 at: 9:55 pm
What a great couple of gardeners and what a great garden! It looks idyllic. I love “Don Hoe.”
June 23rd, 2010 at: 10:29 pm
I actually thought of you Carol, when he showed me the hoes. He was great!
June 23rd, 2010 at: 11:04 pm
Oh, we don’t just live on the computer? LOL What a fun post! My favorite photo is the one of Dave with the wheel barrow. Those are my favorite kinds of gardeners, who share plants. I do that, too.
Thanks for your comment about my pots, Heidi, and our grandson. You will enjoy being a grandma. I can’t believe how fast the last 2 years have gone.
June 24th, 2010 at: 5:07 am
Lovely garden and flowers. Looks like a beautiful backyard habitat. Great photos!
June 25th, 2010 at: 11:48 pm
Bub and Dave are wonderful people who work their tails off to create a beautiful garden. Bub is very loving, knows who she is, and Dave has a terrific sense if humor to boot! They are my inlaws!
. Signed, Diana
June 25th, 2010 at: 11:52 pm
Hi Diana, I couldn’t agree more. I would add giving and warm to your list. They were really fun to spend an afternoon with and I can’t even imagine how they keep their gardens so nice. So much work. YOu can see how proud they are of it and it really shows that they love gardening together.
June 26th, 2010 at: 7:57 am
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.