Tony Avent

Tuesday Sept 8 – Corsican Adventure Since our time on Corsica was limited, we chose to take the cross-island highway from the northeast part of the island where we landed, to the town of Ajaccio, in the far southwestern corner. Driving directly there would have taken us only 2.5 hours, so this allowed plenty of

Monday, September 7 – Ferrying Away We departed Lucca on Monday morning for the Corsica ferry crossing, one hour west of Lucca, in Livorno. Since we’d been having trouble receiving replies from the Regional Agricultural Inspection Service in Pisa, we thought it was best to pay them a surprise visit in person. We arrived around

Sun Sept 6 – Back into the Field Sunday morning, we snuck out of the show to return to the Apuan Alps, this time with John Grimshaw, and Alastair Gunn, in tow.  Our first stop, just over an hour north of town, was just past the town of Massa at 1250’ elevation.  We had hoped

Plant booths ranged from those selling house plants that your would find in a US box store, to rare treasures for the keenest plant collector.  I particularly enjoyed chatting, despite the language barrier, with several specialty nurseryman, including Slovenia nurseryman, Gorazd Mauer of Rifnik Garden and Plants, who was selling an array of rare treasures,

Friday, September 4  – Build me a Wall Before I go any further, I should talk about the Murabilia home base city of Lucca.  This Tuscan town, located about one hour from the coast, is known as the walled city.  Lucca’s wall project, which is over four miles in length and 90’ thick, was built

Thu Sept 3 – Enjoya in Pistoia Thursday morning began with a drive back to Pistoia, with a first stop at Matteini Tranquillo Nursery, owned by husband and wife, Maria Matteini and Tiziano Nesi. They live and work from the 18th century villa on the property, which is certainly one of the more amazing nursery

Wednesday, September 2  –  Nursery Time Our day began by heading east for the one-hour drive to Pistoia.  I had read about a couple of small specialty nurseries on-line, so we dropped in along the route, sans appointment.  The first was Vivao Rhododendron Nursery, near Lucca, which specializes in both Rhododendron and Camellia.  Despite the

Tuesday September 1 – The Redneck Alps For day two of field work, we headed north into the Apennine Mountains. We stopped for a supply of bottled water, now we had realized the extent of the heat and humidity we were facing. I am truly impressed with the cheese and meat section of the area

In 2019, I received an invitation to speak at the 2020 Murabilia Plant Festival in Lucca, Italy. As we got closer to the festival date in September of that year, it became obvious to festival organizers that the severity of the COVID epidemic in Italy would not allow the festival to be held for several years.