UGArdener's photostream  

I am a middle aged American man living in the North Georgia mountains near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. My wife and I are active hikers. We love to travel in England because of the cool weather, the extensive public transportation and the thousands of miles of public footpaths. I have been working on a garden of my own for fifteen years. I have used many of the ideas that I have gotten from English gardens.

After looking at many pictures on Flickr for over a year, I finally joined in January, 2008, and put up almost 1500 pictures taken on a trip to the Cotswolds, East Sussex and the Chelsea Flower Show in 2007. I have since put up a number of sets taken in various small towns in the Southern US, and have also added sets taken on trips to other parts of England including Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Yorkshire as well as other English Gardens such as Chatsworth and Haddon Hall and the Chelsea Show of 2005, and then our July 2008 trip to Sussex and the Cotswolds, as well as other English gardens such as Sissinghurst, Nymans, Savill, Windsor Great Park and Sheffield Park. More recently, I have put up shots from Hardwick Hall, and several walks and cycle rides in the areas around Bakewell, Tissington, Dovedale and Ilam from our two week visit to Derbyshire in 2006.

I spent the past couple of years "returning to my roots" by taking pictures of the changing seasons in the North Georgia mountains where my paternal ancestors have lived for over 175 years. 2010 saw a late winter trip to Tucson and a week at Grayton Beach State Park in Northwest Florida.

In May, 2011, I made yet another trip to England, this time - twelve days in which I managed to cram: a full day at Kew Gardens to see the outdoor exhibition of the International Garden Photographer of the Year, four days of villages and gardens in the Cotswolds, a day at Oxford and Rousham, three days in Rye with visits to Great Dixter and Winchelsea, a side trip from London to Amberley and Arundel, an afternoon garden party inside Eccleston Square, an exhibition of Henry Moore sculptures at Hatfield House, a visit with Flickr contact Penwren and her family in Lewes. The grand finale was the last day - a glimpse of the Obamas during the Presidential Visit to London, and an afternoon ticket to the Chelsea Flower Show. It's going to take the rest of the summer to organize and put up all of the pictures.

We may make a few car trips around Georgia or nearby states, and have scheduled a short visit to family in Chicago for later this summer.

In June, 2009, I purchased a Nikon D40 SLR, and will use it for macros, still lifes and plant portraits that did not come out well on my trusty Canon compact.

If things get slow, I may also go back to the "archives" each morning and put up a shot that did not get seen by many of my contacts when it was first posted. It is my hope that these pictures will be helpful to people trying to decide whether to visit the places that I have documented here.



Someone asked about my Flickr Icon. It's a small figurine of an English Bulldog - the mascot of the University of Georgia (UGA) - my alma mater and also that of our son and daughter-in-law . Here he's dressed in gardening garb in the UGA School colors of Red and Black - our young nephew spotted it in a shop somewhere and it became a Christmas present to me a couple of years ago:



Appropriate?