The St. Lynn’s gals spent a week in beautiful Pasadena, California, for the Garden Writers Association Symposium from September 17-24. Last year when the Symposium was in Pittsburgh, I wasn’t able to attend the weekend festivities because I had tickets to a concert (Paul will never let me live that down :P). BUT my first GWA Symposium and my first time on the West Coast were exciting and more fulfilling than I could have ever anticipated. Paul did double duty at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, PA, and then onto Council Bluffs, IA, for the International Master Gardener Conference while we were at GWA.

The entire Symposium is a big blur of great talks, garden tours and chatting with SLP authors and other GWA friends. Meeting Sue Goetz, C.L. Fornari, Steven Biggs, Dee Nash, Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz was a major highlight. You know the names, faces and you’ve heard their voices over the phone, but there’s nothing quite like finally meeting an author in person (and all of our authors that I’ve met have been nothing but warm, kind and happy to meet me). Sue, C.L. and Maria Zampini all had sessions that I was able to attend and their talks taught me more about the horticulture industry and garden communications. A few of our other authors also participated in the Table Top Picks event, including Denise Schreiber, Kate Copsey and Debra Prinzing.

I enjoyed meeting other garden communicators that I’ve sent books to in the past. I met so many writers, radio hosts and marketing folks who have written or said wonderful things about our books and authors. It’s nice to put faces to the names I know so well, and thank them in person for all that they do for SLP.

The garden tours were beautiful and otherworldly for someone that’s so used to the lush green of Western PA. We toured the LA Arboretum, the Huntington and three private Pasadena-area home gardens. The weather nearly killed us (it was 100+ degrees the day of the Huntington tour), but it was well-worth the sweat and exhaustion. Cathy was born and spent most of her life in Pasadena, and Holly and I were lucky to have her as our very own tour guide and historian during the tours and beyond.

The GWA banquet on Monday night was the last Symposium event St. Lynn’s attended, and it was a GREAT ending to my first GWA Symposium. Miriam Goldberger’s Taming Wildflowers received a Silver Award of Achievement and that was definitely the highlight of our whole evening. We all wished Miriam and Paul could’ve been there with us.

We spent a few extra days in Southern CA because Paul insisted we have a mini-vacation (How lucky are we to have Paul as a boss?!). We headed north to Cathy’s former house in Somis, CA, a small agricultural community an hour’s drive north of Pasadena, and then onto Santa Barbara to put our feet in the Pacific Ocean.

So, when can we go back? 🙂

 

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