Italy

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.