Even when it was raining, they came. And they liked my garden! And they loved all of the birds we share the garden and woods with. During the early part of the tour we also had a doe drop off a fawn in the woods, but the fawn was not left alone for long given all of the humans wandering about.

Gardening is a very personal thing when you do it yourself and although my husband thinks I am nutty, I just wasn’t sure how people would receive my garden; how they would see it, versus how I see and have created it.

My garden was part of the Hardy Plant Society Mid-Atlantic members tour. They are a super fun group, each person, nicer than the next, and they made it so easy to be part of it.

Well, I’m still standing, but I honestly will admit I was tired afterwards. It was a long day Saturday, and again it really and truly is a very personal and emotional thing to open up your garden to so many people. I am very appreciative of the people who came through and I even got some helpful suggestions on things I wasn’t sure about and an identification of the five dollar mystery hydrangea from years ago at a grocery store. Her name is “Blue Billow.”

One of the people on the tour was an old neighbor from Haverford, which was really cool. He’s an arborist and a gardener and I always loved his garden, especially his Japanese maples.

And having one of my favorite people and definite garden influencers on my garden because of her books , lectures, and own spectacular Northview Gardens, Jenny Rose Carey, make room in her day to come see my garden after a long day and teaching a class at Longwood Gardens was so very special. It meant so much to me. Jenny’s book Glorious Shade, much like David Culp’s The Layered Garden can be felt throughout my gardens, along with other influences.

The Hardy Plant Society Mid Atlantic are the nicest group of people. Totally fun to be around and I learn from them and they are very accepting of people and gardeners for who they are, and I deeply appreciate that. I am not a botanist, or a professionally educated horticulturalist, or even a master gardener. I am a home gardener and a lot of times people don’t take us very seriously as gardeners. It’s like we couldn’t possibly, yet we have. It’s hard to explain properly, but it happens, it has happened to me.

I was given a wonderful thank you plant. A very cool Damask Rose who dates to the 1700s at Wyck in Philadelphia. Her name is Pink Leda. Their rose garden is one of the most beautiful in existence, and if you geek out over old roses like I do at times, this is a truly amazing place.

As I am finishing this post, rain and thunder, or swirling around the house. My poor garden has gotten very beaten down in the last 24 hours.

Apparently we’re going to have these crazy storms over the next few days, so I imagine the next course of business will be putting my garden back together after the storms.

So would I be on a tour again? Perhaps. It would depend on the group because the Hardy Plant Society Mid-Atlantic will be a tough act to follow.

Happy gardening!