Tour Wrap-Up

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The 25th Anniversary Hamilton Spectator Open Garden Week has just wrapped up, and I have to say that it was a wild, wonderful, wish-fulfilling, week-long ride.

My husband and I have been working on our front & side garden transformation since the summer of 2012, although it's been a plan of mine for a number of years before I met Doug.

Slowly and methodically, Doug and I - with the help of hired and donated help - gradually rid the front and side gardens of grass; installed a flagstone patio and border wall; and filled the open spaces with trees, foundation plantings and perennials.

Last year I invested in a more sustainable strategy and added more pollinator friendly natives and non-natives. This year I branched out again with the addition of fruits, vegetables and herbs.

Spurred on by our discovery of last year's Hamilton Spectator Open Garden Week tours, I'd determined that our pollinator potager would be ready to share for this year's 25th Anniversary; and, share we did!

Our gardens had just been listed on the tour schedule when I received a call from Hamilton Spectator Garden Writer, Rob Howard, asking for permission to tour and photograph our gardens for a feature article. The delightful profile with inviting photos appeared in the newspaper the morning of our first open tour date, and it certainly encouraged turnout.

We had 22 individuals/groups of people sign our guest register the first evening, and the numbers climbed to nearly 75 visitors over the four days we were open.

Though we'd already joined the ranks of the tillers of the earth - people who embrace getting their hands dirty, marvel at watching seeds sprout and grow into sustenance and beauty, and enjoy sharing knowledge and surplus - Doug and I hadn't recognized the significance until other gardeners shared their thoughts with us, including:

• Love the ingenuity! Adding the vegetables is a wonderful idea. The bees and butterflies are very thankful - Cynthia

• You have done a great job with your front yard! Very Unique - Darlene

• Love it, enough shade & sun, and no grass - Patti

• Thank you. What a lovely welcoming garden. Looks & feels so inviting - Mary Lou

• Lovely peaceful garden! We love the pollinator plants & your ideas, especially the plastic domes over the new plants & veggies! - Tracey & Jerry

• Thank you for opening your paradise to us - Yasmeen

We were unprepared for the visitor turnout, bowled over by the sincerity and appreciation shown by strangers with a common passion, and pleasantly surprised by the encouraging notoriety generated by the two-page feature in the local paper.

While writing this garden tour wrap-up, I asked myself two important questions:

1. Would I do it again? Answer - Definitely, even without the unexpected fanfare, and

2. Did we see other gardens on the tour? Answer - We certainly did ... quite a few, actually; and, we came away with great ideas, seeds and a plant, given freely to us by other generous gardeners.

Sometime during Open Garden Week, Doug and I discovered a joyful spirit of camaraderie with other gardeners and lovers of gardens that we hadn't expected; and, as first-time participants, we became part of a worthwhile endeavour, much bigger than our own little gardening experiment.