Garden Tour

Our house was on the Garden Tour today. My husband is the resident expert on the plants, so I fully expected to simply greet folks and smile a lot. He has jury duty this week, but this is a small town and what were the chances he would be on a jury Wednesday? Pretty darn good, it turns out.

My friend (many of my friends are funny) said I should simply use my nursing background and make up some clever-sounding names. After all, the medical language is Latin, and the plant language is Latin, so who would know the difference?

I was a bit worried, but I didn't care much about the medical terminology idea either (although I really came up with some beauts). I decided to be forthcoming and tell people the little that I knew, use my husband's notes (which were about as readable as if they were in Latin) and do the best I could do.




I should not have worried. Group after group of people came through in a steady stream. Almost every group included a master gardener who would say, "Look. They have (insert plant name) and isn't that a beautiful (insert plant name)!" Here are the questions people most frequently asked me:

Where did you get that lovely stained glass lawn ornament?

A friend who is a periodontist does this for relaxation

Oh! Did a local potter make the mushrooms?

Yes, they came from Muddabbers.

And what about the yard bird?

Also from Muddabbers.

By far, the most frequently asked question:

Where did you get that wonderful banner?

It is a nice banner, one of many that we have, but I really don't know where my husband got it.

And look...it's just as lovely on the other side!

Thanks, we really like it, too.

It was a very long day. People crowded through from 10:00 until 12:00. I was constantly greeting, constantly smiling and trying to look comfortable. I took the Golden Girls for a walk between 12 and 12:30, drank several glasses of water, and prepared for the 1:00 onslaught. Another steady stream from 1:00 until the end of the tour at 3:00 (actually four people showed up at 3:15). It was an exhausting day. When the stragglers finally left, I took the girls out again and changed clothes, sat in the recliner, and cooled off with some lemonade.

My poor husband came home just before 5:00. He has to go back tomorrow for the judge's instructions and the jury deliberation. He asked how the garden tour went, and I said, "JUST GREAT!"