Backyard Bounty

This year we were honored to be part of the Paris Gibson Square Museum’s 18th annual Garden Walk.  Every year The Square sells tickets for this fundraiser, and participants visit 5-6 private and public gardens on Friday evening and Saturday morning. This year we were part of the grand event, in addition to the Electric City Conservatory community garden. The ECC garden was listed fairly early on the schedule, and I originally planned to help out there, but when they needed another garden I was happy to oblige.

The past couple of weeks were spent weeding, deadheading and watering like a mad woman. I thought I was ahead of the game until I woke up last Monday morning with a horrid cough and practically no voice. By Tuesday I felt like a truck hit me, backed up and made another pass. The rest of the week I gradually felt better, but still battled an incredible cough… the kind that makes you nearly throw up. I’ve been sucking down licorice, lemon juice and honey tea and cough drops, but talking has been a struggle. It was the same on Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, Grant was right in there dealing with the people and answering the myriad of questions, as well as taking names for those wanting poppy seeds once they’re ripe.

On Friday night my friend Laura came with her very sweet son, Noah, who brought a Geo Trax outfit to occupy the boys. Oh my. I thought the boys got into Thomas the Train; they were absolutely fascinated by the Geo Trax. At one point  I came inside and offered homemade ice cream to everyone. The boys replied, “No, tank you!” Laura and Noah were a godsend because Friday evening was hopping with people visiting the garden, and it would’ve been very difficult to keep track of the boys and talk to people.

Saturday simmered down a bit. I think there were 246 people on Friday and 143 on Saturday. Everyone loved the poppies, oogled the lilies and seemed to enjoy this tangled mess of a garden. The chickens were a big hit with most, particularly the kids. And Sam and John had a good time chatting up ladies and stealing the lavender/mint shortbread cookies we made. It was a splendid time for all of us, and we were tickled to be part of it. Hopefully in a few years we can be on it again and I’ll have a lot more gardens to show!