Marianne, your garden is beautiful and I'm quite sure you received many nice compliments. I'm not sure that I've seen any pictures of your garden this year. I just bet your garden looks great right now since you've made it pretty for visitors.
Great photo opportunity, yes?

That sounds like a wonderful day, Mariannese. It really is rewarding to share one's garden and see the beauty afresh after all the hard work that goes into creating and maintaining. Your visitors must have been positively enchanted! I know I am.

No pressure, of course, but I'd love to see a few photos, too. And if I might add my sentiments, it's wonderful to continue connecting with you across the miles even though the Houzz bumps have been mountainous lately! Carol

It's raining today after 7 weeks of drought so too wet to go outside. The garden looked so awful before the rain that I was not inspired to take any pictures. The grass needs to be green here to set off the roses.

That is so cool you had a gathering at your place and it went real well. That sounds like a great idea but one day when everything here falls in place. I am sure I am gonna go an earful...lol.

That is great to know you have a heavy rain fall. Hurray !!

I can't wait to see your pics. Rain do wonders and soon it will be more rewarding. ,:)

Jin

I too remember your gorgeous pictures from your last opening. Perhaps this local garden group has a facebook page (or something) where they share pictures or would be open to having some members share them. It can't hurt to ask and it's another way to see your garden from a different vantage. If they do share please ask if you can repost them so we can live the day vicariously! : ))

You are too sweet all of you! Just like the visitors. But we all know that our gardens don't look normal. May was the warmest month since 1739. Weather records started early in Sweden. The rain was welcome but it's gone already and the heat will come back next week. Not the high winds, I hope. Our large pear tree fell last night and broke 4 inches above ground. I blame the calamity on the helenae rose that climbed the tree and caught the wind. We're glad it fell to the north and not on the neighbor's garden. He will bring his chainsaw tomorrow and help us clear up the mess. My husband saved a few windblown blooms of Duchesse de Buccleugh tonight and I took a photo only for you:

I am much happier today. The rain helped to green the lawns somewhat. We didn't have any earthquakes here but there was one, albeit small, in the south yesterday, Wonders never cease. We will plant hundreds of daffodils around the pear tree stump. We started already as its a good place for them but not enough for an impact. I'll spread some wildflower seeds too in this empty corner.

Marianne, good for you for making the best of a not-so-good event. I'm sure that area will be lovely soon. And, perhaps, room for another gorgeous rose? It seems that very few of us have long periods of peace and serenity. There's always something to worry about, great or small. I suppose that's one of the definitions of life. The earthquake in your area and record heat and lack of rain are unfortunately signs that all is not well on this planet.

Carol, it's wonderful that you care about those who are in worse positions than we are, and unfortunately there are many. My special interest is in helping animals because they are often the forgotten ones, especially in many other countries. I used to give more for environmental causes. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel that the fate of this planet is sealed, so I'm concentrating more on alleviating the suffering of animals in the here and now. They are the innocent victims of human greed, evil and indifference. Not in my garden, though, where the squirrels and rabbits are fed dog food in addition to their own foraging, and now we have a family of skunks that we see only in the evening and during the night. They've become quite indifferent to us because I think they've learned that we represent food and water.