Odyssey To Ithaca 2008

I had a marvelous time at last Saturday's annual Odyssey to Ithaca trip. I got to meet new people, make new friends, buy plants, take pictures of plants, have a wonderful "herbal lunch" at Baker's Acres, buy some more plants, take more pictures, visit nurseries and gardens I hadn't been to......and oh yeah, buy more plants!!



Robison York State Herb Garden
The tour started out at the Cornell Plantations. It was a beautiful day to wander amongst the variously themed gardens, taking pictures and answering a question here and there. My favorite garden was the Robison York State Herb Garden - not a hard guess given my herbalist nature. One plant that seem to catch alot of attention there (confirmed by some of the purchases I saw at nurseries throughout the day) was the herb angelica (Angelica archangelica). It was in flower and it is quite spectacular while in bloom. Many people wondered as to its herbal uses. A nice on-line resource for getting that information is the Plants for a Future database http://www.pfaf.org and I encourage you to check it out.



Cornell Plantations - Masterwort
Pipevine. Aristolochia macrophylla. Someone asked me about a vine that was blooming at the Cornell Plantations and at Baker's Acres that I didn't know off the top of my head. This is what it is. I would have posted a picture here but my pictures of it turned out less than optimum.

Our next stop was Baker's Acres. Cool place. Great Lunch! With a wonderful selection of plants for good prices. I came away with some gas plants, society garlic, and white baneberry plants. (Yeah, I'm not a petunia and marigolds sort of gal!) If you were wondering what those pretty plants blooming in the gardens near to the Garden Room (where we ate our lunch) were that you didn't know, they were gas plants (Dictamnus albus). I answered a number of questions on them but thought I'd share in case others were wondering!



Baker's Acres
Our next stop was Bedlam Gardens. An interesting little nursery and a great place for peonies! Just wandering around the many, many gardens, which were clearly a labor of love, is worth the trip!



Bedlam Gardens - Pasque flowers gone to seed
Our next and last stop was Dickman Farms - a very nice Garden Center. We had a tour of their production greenhouses and we learned about the millions of plants that they process, grow, and ship. It was a very interesting and informative end to a wonderful day!


Dickman Farms - Production Greenhouse
All in all a wonderful day and a date not to miss next year!


-kim