Registration is open for the Philadelphia-Area Fling 2023

Get ready to Fling! In September 2023 the Fling heads to the Philadelphia area, also known as America's Garden Capital! Details are at the bottom of this page.

Philadelphia-Area Fling, in Pennsylvania

September 21-24, 2023

Karl Gercens of Longwood Gardens will host us next fall in the creative, lush, beautiful gardens of southeastern Pennsylvania. If you share about gardening on a public blog, Instagram, podcast, YouTube channel, TikTok, or other social media, you're invited to join us!

Here's Karl to give us a sneak peek:

We'll be traversing several counties around the Philadelphia region including Chester, Delaware, and Bucks, all known for their abundance of garden destinations. We'll have a full day of private garden visits in each county, with an evening soiree hosted by a few of the public gardens.

Longwood Gardens will start us off on Thursday afternoon with a sneak peek at the new conservatory that's slated to open in October 2024. It'll be the largest construction project since Mr. du Pont started the garden over 100 years ago! We'll have behind-the-scenes tours of our new production facility, which will be full of blooming Japanese exhibition-style chrysanthemums ready to go on display the following week! The evening meal and drinks will be in the Beer Garden, and we'll end the day with an illuminated fountain show.

Friday will start bright and early with private garden visits and finish with an evening at Chanticleer. We'll have plenty of time to stroll the gardens, and the day will wrap up with live music and our evening meal in the gardens. David Culp's Brandywine Cottage, John Lonsdale's Edgewood, and Wayne Guymon's WynEden are very close by.

Saturday will show us some of the best private gardens in the region, some of which belong to avid plant collectors. We'll have ample opportunities to explore the diverse range of flora that's been brought to the region by some of these people, so be sure to clear that memory card on your camera! Charles Cresson's Hedgleigh Spring -- featured on Monty Don's American Gardens program -- and Andrew Bunting's Bevidere are a couple of the highlights! Our evening banquet is being planned at Stoneleigh Mansion. Stoneleigh is the newest member of America's Garden Capital and has only recently been made into a public garden. We'll experience the rich horticultural history of the property dating back to an Olmsted design, as well as the recent challenges it overcame to become a public garden.

Sunday will be just as exciting as the days before, and you'll wonder how there are so many great gardens in the area! Barbary Tiffany's MillFleurs is a fantastic riverside garden of many shade perennials, while Bruce Gangawer's Paxon Hill Farm is simply over-the-top with art, design, and exciting unusual plants! Hopefully we'll have a moment to stop for lunch at Peddler's Village for some local shopping after we dine at one of the restaurants and stroll the gardens surrounding the locally inspired village.

Wow, that all sounds amazing! Mark your calendar now for September 21-24, 2023. Karl expects to open registration in late January. Subscribe to this blog to make sure you're notified when registration opens, as spots are limited to around 95. The Fling tour is open to anyone who shares about gardening publicly on a blog, Instagram, podcast, YouTube channel, TikTok, or other social media.

To access the registration page you'll just need to send an email to k@karlgercens.com with the following information.

SUBJECT: 2023 Philadelphia Area Fling

NAME:

SOCIAL MEDIA LINK: (must be public)

CONTACT PHONE: for secondary communication only

Once this is received, give about a week for the registration link to be back in your inbox. Remember that the link can't be shared and you can only register yourself. We only have 69 spots as of February 1 so sign up today!!