Congrats on surviving the day! Glad to see that the rain didn't last.

So, what am i going to do with my time now? - I would sit back a while and enjoy all the hard work you did!

I am looking forward to checking out your pics tomorrow when I get to work where they have high speed internet (I really need to do something about this dial-up connection...)

Susan

Congrats, Marcia. Everything looked terrific. Now you can enjoy the rest of your summer and enjoy stress-free gardening again. Take a nice, leisurely walk with you dH and your dog. Go swimming. Pick some mushrooms and some berries. Go fire watching. Hmmm . . . snooze in a hammock???

Shauna

Some rest is definitely in order.

I can't imagine what you went through to try to get ready for this event. I get stressed out just having friends over if I know they are going to be sitting outside and MIGHT look at things in the yard and most of my friends aren't gardeners.

Great picture book, your yard is very pretty and relaxing (well, now that it's over you can find some relaxation, lol.)

Glen

Nice to ee that you got some rain. It should help your garden and put out the forest fires.

I liked the tour of your yard, it is almost like being there. Thank you. Now that it is all over you can relax. Having shown my yard several times it seems like all you do is work like the dickens to get it looking, in your mind perfect, and when the tour is on people just walk through and look at it like there was no work involved at all. Oh, well now you can relax and think about something else for awhile.

Cheers Al

Glad you survived it Marcia! And your orienpets are blooming already??!

Yes, I remember it being kind of anti-climactic too. It took hours and hours to get the garden into viewing shape, and then some people whizzed through in 5 minutes! But then, there were others who lingered and asked questions and commented on things, so I guess it all evened out in the end.

Great pictures too. I didn't see a weed anywhere! ;^)

Good going, Marcia, everything in the pics looks great. Now the big question - will you do it again?

Marcia, your gardens look wonderful! I especially like how you've incorporated 'things' in the garden - ladder, barrel, etc. etc.
And all that worrying for nothing....lol!
I think you should pour yourself something nice and cool and go relax in one of those chairs in your lovely garden sitting area - take the time to enjoy the garden yourself!!!
Margaret

Looks fabulous Marcia, see it wasn't so bad was it?? I'm wondering if you are going to do it again too!

My garden tour volunteering was fun too, I didn't know there would 2 volunteers at each garden and that made it much more fun to have someone to chat to.

Good morning! Thanks for all your comments and compliments! Did i ever mention that you guys are the best? :)

This morning, i did what i've been wanting to do all summer. I went out and sat on the top step of the deck (the chairs were still wet) and drank my morning coffee, listening to the birds singing, sniffing the scent of the Orienpets wafting from the other side of the house, and admiring my yard without thinking frantically that i had to do this or that or the other thing. It was great!!

Would i do it again? Yes, eventually. This is a small area so the nice gardens are limited. I figure that i might be asked again by 2010. Hopefully i'll have a greenhouse by then and can start a lot of annuals for containers. Some of the containers i have were okay but a lot were kind of sparse. And i planted some of my WS perennials in containers just to do something with them, so those containers didn't look like much either. Now i can uncover than lasagne bed and plant some of those perennials in there.

After everyone had left yesterday, my mom and i did have big glasses of iced tea sitting out on the patio. The sun came out so we moved to the chairs in the shade. It was nice to just sit. We even played cards in the evening! Nice to enjoy things without the stress.

I have a book set aside for some reading now. The Time-Traveller's Wife. Anybody read it? It's a big book - should take a couple of weeks. :)

Great job Marcia! Glad you got to enjoy your morning coffee stress-free! Nothing better!

Your gardens look amazing!

Ang

WOW Marcia, Your garden looks lovely! And the tour wasn't so bad after all.

Haha at the sign "Please don't smell the shastas."

Now I have to go get my morning coffee. LOL!

Sierra

You did it girl and your garden photos were wonderful, wish I could see it in person ;)
And by golly, I Love your OP's! Wow!

Tell your mom she's the greatest!

Sharon

Congratulations, Marcia. Put your feet up and pour yourself a tall, cool one. You deserve it!! Thanks for the virtual tour!

Loved looking at the pictures of your yard. You did a really good job with everything.

Syreeta