Ask a Garden Flinger what turns his or her crank in the garden and you’d best be prepared for a wide variety of responses. Some like it sculpted, many like it native, there are tree lovers, beekeepers, edible erudites, professional landscapers with an eye for the truly unique, and garden hobbyists, to name a few. This palette for plants presents a pretty planning problem for the event planner. Or does it? Apparently not if you’re Helen Battersby and crew who put on a non-stop, can’t-get-enough-of-every-type-of-garden-out-there event in Toronto last weekend. Many thanks to Helen, Sarah Battersby, Lorraine Flanigan and Veronica Sliva for hosting the Fling.

As a first-time Flinger and increasingly devout garden hobbyist, the selection of tour gardens and conversation with other bloggers got my wheels turning about what a garden is and why we garden and I’m looking at my garden endeavor with fresh eyes. Gardening friends, what is your raison d’etre for digging in the dirt? Is your garden energizing? Or does it offer a respite from the day? Are you gardening on a balcony, backyard or football-sized scale? Are you inspired (or inspiring others) through plants, design or art? Is your garden an ecosystem? Does its bounty replenish? Is it up high?

Enjoy this sampling from the 2015 Garden Bloggers Fling.