For 2 months now we have had non stop sunshine with high temperatures and being told that we are now officially having drought conditions. What was the forecast for this weekend, rain, rain and even more rain, high winds and cold temperatures !!! Got up at 5am, the sunrise was beautiful, couldn’t imagine that the weather was going to deteriorate so much.
I was now frantically planting trying to fill in the bare spaces that had appeared when doing the last of the weeding.
Had to complete the last of the deadheading before stopping for breakfast.
Then out straight away to start putting up all the signs
Some were small ones put up on side roads and round our village.
Some were large ones to be put on major roads and at junctions.
Back home for a quick coffee, can you guess which is my mug!
Get a few plants together ready for selling.
Probably the most important sign, some think it is more important than the garden, how could they!
Quickly plant up a pot of sunshine, just as well that I did, the sun vanished shortly afterwards and that was the last we saw of it for the rest of the afternoon. Instead we had torrential rain and hailstones.
The rain eased off just as people started to arrive, they couldn’t get past hubby without parting with their money!
Caught him in the act!!!
People were enjoying the garden in spite of the weather, by now the rain was just a light drizzle
The lady in the stripes is opening her garden in September, so must make a note on the calendar, and return her visit.
On the Saturday the tea and cakes were organised and served by the ladies from the Anglican church in the village and the money they raised will go to the Church Restoration Fund. Part of the church originates from the 11th Century so there is always work to be done on it.
After yet more rain people are still arriving, they are so good coming when the weather is so unreliable.
Next morning the moles have been busy, attention needed in this area.
The rain is torrential today, much heavier than yesterday, but some of our visitors have come all the way from Sweden !!! They are actually here on holiday and working their way along the south coast, how lovely that they stopped off at our garden for a while. They had seen the TV programme “Open Gardens” when they were in Sweden, so when they saw the big yellow sign on the main road, they recognised it and knew what it was all about. What they hadn’t realised was that they had probably already seen the garden because we took part in the programme a few years ago!
With the rain so heavy we couldn’t expect anyone to have their tea and cakes outside so opened the conservatory for them to eat in comfort.
The ladies serving tea and cakes on the Sunday were from my church in the next town. The money raised by them is going to Sierra Leone to help the mission where my husband and I went to work for a month last year.
This lady even came twice, once on Saturday and again on Sunday , but this time with her husband so that he could see how she wanted her pond to look. Its always good to visit other gardens, we can all get ideas on how to improve our own creations. I have promised him part of one of the iris in the pond so he is glad he came!
So what was I doing all weekend ? Sometimes walking round with visitors talking about creating the garden, sometimes answering questions about various plants and sometimes selling plants, trying to keep dry and warm. I really enjoyed the weekend, quite a lot of visitors came on Saturday but only a few on Sunday. It was such a shame that the weather broke when it did, but the people who came were so interested in everything, the plants, the carvings, and the history of the garden from when it was part of the farmer’s field. We were so grateful to them all for coming and helping to raise funds for N.G.S. and the 2 other charities which benefited from the tea money.
As soon as we had tidied up we were off out for dinner at our local pub/restaurant and then back home to put our feet up for a well earned rest.
I have just heard on the radio, today, Monday, that we in the south west of the country had rain over the weekend equal to the normal rain fall for the whole of June, just our luck to choose the wrong weekend !!
Thanks for sharing the open garden day with us, (almost) as good as being there, although the tea did look yummy! I wish that gardeners in Canada had an organization like this, a few open gardens for local horticultural societies, but nothing this large.
Everyone seemed to enjoy their tea as well as the garden, thank goodness. I would imagine your weather is a lot better than ours, although today we have wall to wall sunshine, just our luck !!
How interesting, and what a lovely garden, no wonder people came to visit despite the rain. I love walking around gardens in the rain, everything always looks so fresh. I would have visited too if I had been closer. R
Thanks for your message Ronnie, I too enjoy looking at gardens in the rain. it adds an extra sparkle and everything looks so much better than in bright hot sunshine.
Dear Pauline, I feel quite excited and fluttery reading this, aniticipating my first open garden experience. The weather always unpredicatable, isn’t it? But from the photos it looked a real success. Gardeners aren’t going to be put off by a bit of rain – that’s why raincoats were invented. Cheers, catmint
It’s great opening your garden, look forward to it Catmint. It’s hard work but very rewarding sharing it with everyone, they are so supportive. We can’t predict the weather, but as you say ,real gardeners love the rain!