The Great Garden Tour Bust of '09

Well, the garden tour is now history - and what a waste of my time that was! I damn near killed myself last week, weeding and planting and mulching all day, every day. The grand total of visitors? Fifteen. As in 15. Even more irritating was that I convinced a friend of mine to come over and spend the four hours with me, because I figured I'd need one of us in the front and one in the back to answer questions, etc. We ended up spending the time sitting at the foot of the driveway, chit-chatting. (I made it up to her by giving her a glass of wine on the patio afterward.) One thing that really puzzled me regarding the lack of attendance was the prominent absence of my fellow garden clubbers. They're usually all over garden tours, and I know that this one got announced to the district clubs, but only 3 showed up. I was on a garden tour at this time of year in '04, and I was mobbed. People were still coming even after the official closing time. Despite intermittent showers that day it was still an unqualified success, mainly due to a compliment from an important source. The woman in question is from England, and for many years had a well-respected landscape design service in the area. She's a recognized authority on all things horticultural. At one point, she came over to me and said, "For sheer variety of plant material alone, this is far and away the best garden on the tour." Now that really meant something! Quite a contrast to yesterday's lack of interest; one couple arrived and departed in less than 5 minutes. (I guess they were supporting the institution that put the tour on - they apparently didn't give a rip about the plants.) Oh well, at least I have my memories...........