Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A Wonderful Group

I'm happy to report that this past weekend's tour went very well.  The Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society visited us and they were such a friendly, warm group of Master Gardeners.

We worked as late into the evenings as we could last week and were up early on Saturday to try to get in some late minute touches.  Ann and Jessie were here bright and early to add some polish to the garden, too.  We all ran in six different directions at once, but finally had to cease and desist when I yelled, "The bus is just about here!"  Shovels, wheelbarrows and tools miraculously disappeared as the bus neared our driveway.
  There I am, waiting for the bus to back into our driveway.
Oops, guess we should have pruned the willow tree a bit more.  Buses are bigger than I thought.

There were 44 people onboard and they had only 45 minutes to see the yard.  We have a sort of a 'system' for taking folks through the gardens; we start in the driveway and work our way around the front:
After seeing the front of the gardens, it's time to view the Pachyberm, above.  Then we normally go back in front of the house and through the garden gate, but they had a tight schedule, so we bypassed the normal route and everyone picked a trail to get to the back yard.
On to the backyard
 I forgot to mention to them at the start of their visit that we were in the middle of remodeling our Formal Garden, but no one seemed to mind that it wasn't done.  (And was a total mess.)

My only regrets with larger groups of people is that I don't get a chance to talk to everyone.  I was able to ask some questions of their very illustrious members and learned a few things about my own plants that I didn't know before. 
Heading out toward Quarry Hill
We hoped to get a group photo of everyone, but there were members scattered all over the yard.
People everywhere!
Heading down the hill
Carl, in the dark blue shirt, leading the tour.
Joel managed to get a group picture of some of our visitors.

All too soon, it was time for them to leave.  Hard to believe how fast the time flies.
Screech Kitty led the tour through the Egress Garden Gate.  He's a veteran tour guide around here.  
I sure wish the MG's could have seen the yard at its peak bloom season.  And I wish the Formal Garden had been done on time, too, but oh, well, gardening is a process, right?

As we all know, a gardener's work is never done.

Our thanks to the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society for some wonderful memories!

And a special Thank You to Ann, Jessie, Richard and Emily for their help, too!

 



13 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

So glad to hear you all survived the first tour of gardeners of the season. Wow, 44 visitors at once. Yikes, that would freak me out.

Your gardens look lovely and I'm sure everyone enjoyed them too.

Hope you get to relax a bit now.

Although, you are right, gardening is a process and ever ongoing.

Have a great week ~ FlowerLady

Randy Emmitt said...

Karen,

The garden looks great, you really had nothing to be worried about. Looks as if things went very smoothly.

Darla said...

I agree with Randy, not a thing to worry about! It all looks so beautiful and tidy..glad to read it was a success.

Lona said...

It sounds like it was a great success Karen. Everyone looks happy to be touring your gardens. Your gardens are looking so beautiful. I look at it and think it is all so gorgeous and what work it must have taken to build it all.

Unknown said...

From the photos, your gardens look amazing. I am certain this tour will be something those folks will remember for a long time. I have to get myself signed up on the next tour bus.

Diana LaMarre said...

I am so happy to hear that everything went well. I think the gardens looked very nice and tidy from your pics. I am sure they were all quite impressed.

Alison said...

What a relief that it went well! It looks like they loved your gardens, and they still had plenty of beauty to look at, despite the chaos in the formal bed.

As far as wishes go, there's always next year and the year after that.

Missy said...

I bet a lot of them would love to come back and see the garden again. You did a fantastic job. It looked great.

Dandelion and Daisy said...

I'll bet that was a group of people who were in "gardener's paradise"...they didn't care about what wasn't...they were lovin' what was! Your garden has to be a tour to "die for".

Anonymous said...

Looks like all went well, now you need a good rest.

Karen said...

Thank you all very much!

Beth said...

Karen, The gardens are looking very nice for early in the season. I look forward to watching the progress of your garden over the summer.
Blessings, Beth

Kelsie from Our Country Home and Studio Photography said...

I am glad you had a great visit with the MG's...I love your tour guide cat...how fun.

Blessings Kelsie