2017 Garden Tour

[bobm]

This year's garden tour is now in the books as of yesterday 6: 20 pm. Instead of 10 gardens, the County Staff increased it to 15, so we had fewer people come to each garden as the hours of 10 am to 4 pm limited many visitors. This year we had 61 groups but they stayed longer and asked more questions since most of them were newbies to gardening. I had several straglers that came between 4 and 5 and stayed untill after 6 asking MANY questions on garden design as well as what plants/ trees grow best in this area and climate. 7 asked me for further help in the near future to help design their gardens.

 

[Collector]

It was kind of you to let folks come late and stick around getting questions answered. I only hope I could be that patient. Do you usually get picked for the tour?

 

[Nyboy]

Sounds like start of new job

 

[bobm]

It was kind of you to let folks come late and stick around getting questions answered. I only hope I could be that patient. Do you usually get picked for the tour?

Short answer is yes ! Three years ago , the County Representative told me that the County along with it's 7 Citys and a select 2 master Gardeners had looked at about 200 gardens in the County, then chose 10 gardens to be toured by the public. Since then they had selected my garden again twice more based on number of people that came to see it as well as their feedback on the questionaire at each garden. This year there were 6 repeat gardens and the rest of the 15 were new . This year we ( garden owners) had a pre-tour of the 15 gardens. We were transported by the County on a rented School bus ( started at 8 am and ended after 6 pm. They also sprung for catered lunch). One of the best of the new gardens was at a newly constructed ( moved in last Dec.) 3,000+ square foot Mid-Century Modern home ( built by the owner's General Contractor son ) with attached 3 double bay garages and a seperate climate controlled green house for the Master Gardener owner on a bluff overlooking the Columbian River directly accross from Portland (Oregon) International Airport with sweeping views of the Cascade Mountains in the background. The sweeping garden design including all new trees, roses, bluebery bushes, and mass plantings of a variety of annuals and peranuals was a collaboration of the owner and her 3 Master Gardener friends and installed by her son ( a landscape architect ) and his large Nursery Business.

 

[bobm]

Sounds like start of new job

Nah ! Just too busy remodeling / correcting original construction mistakes on our home... one room at a time... I just replaced our old 6 foot tall wooden fence and then selected the best of the grey weathered fence boards and installed them onto one of the dining room walls and painted another wall the color of vin rose as a background for our new 3' x 6' glass and black steel modern dining room table. Result is stunning if I say so myself ! Then in my spare time there is the constant maintenance of the garden.

 

[ninnymary]

Wish we could see pictures.

Mary