2009 was the summer of my mother’s garden. We had spent many the day getting the garden ready, and the results would last in beauty through the whole season.
The day of the Long Beach Peninsula “Music in the Gardens” tour dawned bright. And yes, we saw the dawn because garden tour days make this night owl wake up early with a combined feeling of stress and excitement. We arrived at mom’s by 8.30 AM with the last load of tables and chairs and set up the sit spots and hung welcoming signs at the entrance.
I love the title of Beverly Nichols’ Garden Open Today. Traditionally it IS “Garden Open” and not the reverse. I had the book cover copied and laminated just for such events.
The caption under the photo of my grandma (right) reads “Gladys Walker, mother of Virginia, grandmother of Skyler, gardening mentor and inspiration”.
We also had on display a photo of the garden “before”.
Here’s a better look:
Below, the same view photographed just before tour time:
Even though not all the lilies had bloomed, the garden blazed with bright colours, including the cheery row of orange marigolds. Mom had been so pleased when I brought and planted them for her.
The chairs and tables were ready….Garden books had been artfully placed to share our inspirations.
We waited. The tour started at 10 A.M. By 10:20 no one had arrived except for a tour volunteer bringing cake. Our pitchers of lemon water and juice were set out, the cake was sliced. Where were the people? Perhaps, I thought, those who started at the south end of the tour had gone to the Discovery Heights display gardens first.
At 10:30 a friend who already knew the location of mom’s garden arrived with dire news. The program did not list the garden as being in Long Beach but just had the street address. Locals might have been able to track it down by knowing that Washington Street was in Long Beach….but the map had an X mark showing my mom’s garden at a main intersection in….Ilwaco!
By now I had made a panicky call to the tour organizers, Mary and Patti. Patti said she was on our way to sit with mom in the garden for awhile, but first she would go to the intersection in Ilwaco and put up some sort of sign redirecting people. Mom was looking unhappy….I felt so responsible. I’d looked at the program; why had I not seen that town names were not included in the information? I would happily have hand corrected each one to get more people here on mom’s big day.
At last, by 11:00, people began to arrive. Mom settled herself in a chair on the lawn and received visitors, many of whom sat for awhile and talked with her. I had never seen her look as social and happy as she did that day.
Every facet of the garden was admired. The clematis still bloomed behind the house….Some of the lilies had opened for us… There was a bit more soil showing in some beds than I would have liked, because of the massive overhaul the garden had required. But we had fairy chairs and containers of interesting plants, lilies and roses, peas climbing up the veg garden trellis, books and garden photos on display.
Over the course of the day we had perhaps 60 people. They walked all around the house, sometimes twice, remarking in wonder at the glorious clematis display on the north wall. (See previous blog entry for clematis photo.)
Our good friend Patti, one of the tour organizers, arrived. She sat with mom in the morning and afternoon and commented later that she had never seen my mother so happy.
Garden tourists enjoyed all the bit of decor, but especially the fairy chairs.
We persist in calling them fairy chairs even though they are human sized…
Was it a bit of a cheat to bring the planted chairs up from our own garden? I think not…even the great gardens are staged and improved for photo shoots.
I had to tear myself away from Mom’s garden at about noon to go up with Patti to Laurie’s on Sandridge Road and check on THAT open garden. Allan had already gone there to moniter the workings of his water feature. Another tour volunteer stayed with mom. I knew Laurie would get the most guests during mid day because of her mid-Peninsula location and that there would be a lull at mom’s garden. (See next entry for the day of beauty, music, poetry, and Allan’s oyster shell water wheel in Laurie’s garden.)
Back to mom’s…the light had changed, and one of the best lilies had just started to open in the warm afternoon sunshine.
Fewer shadows were cast on the lawn.
I didn’t get to sit with mom for any of the time in the garden because the guests all wanted to know the names of different plants. Three regrets linger from that day: One, that the program was wrong because I would love for my mother to have enjoyed all ninety-or-so of the tour guests, not just the lesser amount who actually found her garden. Two, that I got no photos of mom sitting and talking with garden guests. Three, that my attention was split between two gardens. Yet my strong feeling that this might be the last chance for both Laurie’s and my mother’s garden to be on tour turned out to be correct, so I can’t feel too much regret that they both had their simultaneous day of adulation.
At the end of the wonderful day, my mother moved to a chair near the steps of the house and basked in the sunshine. Invigorated by the tour, she had found the strength to stay outside for hours. She told me it had been one of the best days of her life.
The summer of mom’s garden would continue. The leader of the garden group from Vancouver had asked if they could return to tour in early July, and of course we said yes. We left the chairs, tables, and garden decor in place for the next garden party.
[…] Comments « flashback: 27 June 2009 — Mom’s garden open […]
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What a wonderful post, pictures and memories. Your mother’s garden is lovely, I have admired other pictures of it on Pinterest. When I start gardening this spring with my mother in her garden and mine, I will remember this post and appreciate the time together that much more! Thank you.
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Thank you so much! And yay for Pinterest.
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What a beautiful, sweet garden (and daughter) your Mom had! This was a lovely post about her big day.
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Thank you. It has all gone to just lawn now with the new owners. But that happens to many gardens.
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