Monday, June 29, 2015

Rained-out Garden Tour


My sincere thanks to those brave people who visited my garden on the rainiest day of the year. They reinforced my belief that gardeners are a hardy lot! It began to rain at my house at 7:15 am just as I was deadheading the miniature roses and making some final touches, and it didn't stop until mid-morning of the next day. It was very disheartening after all those weeks of hard work: composting, mulching, weeding, and planting. Visitors, with raincoats and umbrellas dripping, arrived in ones and twos, but no more than a dozen in all. I am so glad the tour organizers are trying to reschedule the event. There were six gardens on the tour, and I am sure the other gardeners feel the same way.

I took some pictures a couple of days ago to post on Facebook, hoping to tempt some of my 'friends' to come on the tour. I am so glad for those photographs as it was impossible to take pictures in the rain.  Come take a virtual tour with me. It is raining again, but you don't even have to get wet this time.

 As you enter our property the purple cone flowers are coming into bloom in the small butterfly garden. There are phlox, liatris, milkweed and cleome in this area. If you look top-left you can see the horseshoe garden under the flag. Let's go there next. 


Butterfly Garden.

I added a bit of stained glass to the foot of the clematis in the horseshoe garden to hide its bare roots. The rose campion is still the star of this garden.

The Horseshoe Garden

The cottage garden was between blooms: the peonies and roses just finished, with the flower buds of the shasta daisies, phlox and other cottage garden perennials about to burst open. Few blooms, but layers of lush green foliage.


 Except for the hollyhocks! They stole the show.

Hollyhocks tower over the cottage garden

 I added a wreath on each door and ivy in a birdcage.

Frogs are said to love the rain, but even they were sheltering out of sight.

 Next, into the shade garden where some of the hosta blooms are about ready to open.


Shade Garden Planting.

 My grandson, Jonathan, spent a couple of days with us prior to the tour date, and weeded and tidied the miniature gardens. Each one is so lovely and special, like Jon.

One of five miniature gardens

Through the clematis-covered arbor we enter the kitchen garden. The pink blooms of 'Comtesse de Bouchard' look very striking with the purple petals of 'Tie Die.'


Since this picture, the vegetables have grown in leaps and bounds, due to the rain.

The Kitchen Garden

 We finished making the new, shorter Woodland Walk and H.H. planted shrubs at the entrance. The pathway is along a swale, which is doing its job of collecting rain water and preventing it from flooding our basement. We knew this was a drawback for a 'Walk' but it was the natural path to take. It is a beautiful walk when it is dry. There are pictures in my previous posting.

I'm joining Helen at the Patient Gardener's Weblog for her End of Month View. Helen's garden in England is beautiful -- check it out.  

There were some advantages to having the event in the rain:
  • I was able to give each visitor a private tour, and answer many questions.
  • When the rain was light, the garden colors were softer and even more lovely if that is possible.
  • I was overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude for people making the trek through the rain.
I love showing people my garden, rain or shine. I hope you enjoyed the tour from the comfort of your home.

Pamela x


Bees love the hollyhocks.

~~ I love reading your comments. I hope you leave one so I’ll know you visited!
I look forward to visiting your blog in return.

15 comments:

  1. Your garden looks lush and beautiful, Pam! I enjoyed my tour. Your clematis are stunning together.

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  2. I'm sorry it rained on your garden parade, but perhaps you'll be able to do it again later. I very much enjoyed my tour. Your garden is gorgeous.

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  3. Thank you so much for the dry tour of your beautiful garden! I appreciated it even more because my bad knee would have kept me away even if I did live there! I'm sure you were so disappointed at the rains. I hope they do reschedule!

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  4. There's one thing for sure, those people venturing out in the rain will have had a treat visiting your beautiful garden, definitely worth the effort. I certainly enjoyed my virtual tour.

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  5. At least we got to go along on the tour! Beautiful, Pam. Being in the garden tour capital, our area has had many rainy garden walks over the last 21 years. People still came because the events are so established. I remember one year I showed the garden it rained and we still got a good number of folks. It really has to do with how long the tours have been running. If your tour continues after a few years, rain won't matter.

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  6. I feel your pain, Pam and I hope they will reschedule the tour!
    It's great you took some pictures before the rain! I love your kitchen garden, your beautiful hosta and ... everything!

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  7. Aw! I am so sorry that the rain dampened your day. Your garden did look beautiful and I'm sure all your hard work was appreciated by those who visited. It was nice that you had more time to spend with your visitors. I have always lived in fear of a rainy day when I had garden tours but I got a dose of worse than rain back in May. 10 minutes of hail flattened everything out there and stripped every new leaf from the trees. I had to cancel a garden tour. There was nothing to see. They will be back next year.

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    1. Oh my word! I wont complain any more about my experience! They have rescheduled the tour for Sunday, July 12. Hoping for a better day.

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  8. Your hollyhock and kitchen garden are so stunning! Water on the garden is so refreshing, so I really want to make a pond and stream on my garden, but the limited land make me so confuse.

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  9. That is too bad there was rain on the day of the garden tour! Your garden looks so lovely as always! I love your kitchen garden, and the miniature garden is so cute. Hopefully you'll get a nice day for the next tour!

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  10. Wow! Your GARDENS are enormous.....oh to have soooooooo much space and freedom to create. I thoroughly enjoyed my 'dry tour'....thank you ☺

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  11. oh, tantalising.
    Wish you much better weather for the new date!

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  12. Glad to hear that the tour has been rescheduled, your garden is looking amazing and it will be great to share it with even more people.... although I do appreciate you taking the time to show it off for us!

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  13. Oh Pam that is too bad about the rain...but I am glad to see your tour here. I would visit as often as I could as your garden is a true inspiration. And that potager is amazing in its size and I bet it did leap to life from the rain! I pull out seeding hollyhocks yearly and I missed a few this year...they are stealing the show in the Side Garden.

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  14. Hi Pam. We had ours on the weekend and we had the opposite weather! Very hot and humid, and we are also between blooms. But a few things were good. People must have really enjoyed seeing your beautiful gardens! Lucky them.

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