Life Started in a Garden

I am so blessed to have girlfriends who are just as enthused as I am to go touring around our region getting inspired by God's awesome creativity - lakes, gardens, mountains, hills, vineyards, ponds, dwellings, families. I am still soaking in the beauty we witnessed together two days ago taking the RMSC Garden Tour . I think I saw the most inspiring gardens on this Saturday past than in all the years I've been touring. (but then, again I might say that every time)

There are several annual garden tours in the Rochester, NY area. All of which make for an awesome "girlz day out". All the tours are fundraisers for various civic organizations that bless our community all year long, year after year.

The one we attended on this fourth Saturday of July was far flung with 3 gardens in an eastern suburb and 3 gardens in a western suburb. I am going to divide this account into two installments. This post for eastern gardens and next week's for the western suburb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The first garden we visited was a shady garden and oh, so peaceful and serene. It was raining when we arrived. We all carried umbrellas. The gardener was present in each garden. They were all so hospitable and full of information about their gardens. This particular garden was completely covered in a thick carpet of decaying leaves. It felt luxuriously opulent. I asked the gardener if she imported leaves to make this huge expanse so dense. She answered me "no". The many trees on her property shed their leaves in the Fall and where they fall, they stay. She does create pathways through the garden, using the free mulch the town offers to residents (a recycling project in which the local towns shred residential garden wastes of tree limbs, Christmas trees, etc. and make it available to local residents)

The next garden was just a few steps away from the first one.  In picture 1, the rain soaked bench is reached by a decent on slate garden steps. It looked to me like a perfect spot for morning devotions. Note the mossy ground cover. In picture 2, you can see that this garden is on a slope. Therefore the gardens below are reached by stone steps. This garden was so rich in beauty, it was difficult to even absorb it into my tiny "point and shoot" camera. No shot could capture it enough for my satisfaction. Does that ever happen to you?

In the third and final garden on the east end, the gardener is the owner of a local art gallery. Therefore, you'll see garden artwork in her garden. Also a place for fairies. In picture 1 you'll see the fairie house and the fairie asleep on the moss on the right. Picture 2 shows a fanciful garden bench. Pictures 3 and 4 show a garden path lined with handmade etched stepping stones. Picture 5 is of a front lawn garden bed and picture 6, another piece of garden artwork - a glass and metal octopus, totally out of his element.

Stay tuned for the next post where you'll see the awesome western gardens of Scottsville, NY

Garden Tour

On Saturday, last, I attended, with two friends, the annual Greece Performing Arts Society garden tour. Greece is a suburb of Rochester. Their performing arts society, includes gardening, music, drama, painting, sculpture, etc.

Here in western New York, summer doesn't start until the end of May. It closely follows a Springtime of, roughly, one week. Rochester Summers are usually "hot and heavy". They visit us from June to mid-September, getting cooler at night in September. We usually have a beautiful Indian Summer from September's end to about mid-October. Then...........brrrrrrrrrrrrr.......... Therefore, Summer is usually packed with events. Like the old saying goes "make hay while the sun shines".

The GPAS is always on the second Saturday of June, rain or shine. This time it was a bit chilly. We wore light jackets. In every garden, we were offered cold drinks but turned them down because we were so cold. Before the show was over, we did stop for coffee to warm up. That tasted soooo good.

There were seven gardens to visit. The owner/gardener is in every garden so you can ask questions and get the inside story on their garden. This year I noticed that many of the gardens had a little "fairy garden" tucked away in the landscape somewhere. I also noticed many beautiful colored glass bridbaths. Some gardens had several. The gardens represented the gardeners esthetic. "Staging" was the order of the day. Some were perfect, every blade of grass the exact same length, all beds edged in professional curbing, some had a vintage vibe, some had a riot of garden sculpture, some had fabulous sheds, some had trickling ponds. It's almost too much to digest. You just have to dream of it and take notes in your guide book.

                                                         Fairy Garden

                        "Staging" seed packets, robins eggs nest, quilt, picket fence chair

                                                                     Garden Shed

 

 

 

Multi Level Pond

We (three) look forward to this annually. It's our traditional "girlfriend" thing. I usually take tons of pictures. I'm always looking for ideas for my own garden. I am definitely going to make a "fairy garden".

 

Recycled Glass Garden Sculpture

These homes always have some sort of patio and from those, volunteers served cold drinks and light snacks (cheese and crackers, pretzels, tea sandwiches, etc,) Another feature of the patios is: they all have live music. And in each garden an artist is sitting at her easel, painting a garden scene.

A part of the tour is a visit the town's Historical Center. Here they have a huge tent set up with a "rolling restaurant", perennials for sale, home canned vegetables, and crafts.  I did buy a couple perennial plants. A tiny hosta for $2 and hen n' chickens for $1.50.  We all had a hot dog from the rolling restaurant.

This is the highlight of my Summer. What's yours?