I wouldnt worry about critics. I dind gardeners are eager to learn and will be especially interested in your process of creating and maintaining it.

I think you should write exactly what you said in your OP: It's a 25 year project on 5 acres, We have had successes, some by accident rather than planning, and lots of failures. We have beds and arrangements that I look at and think that doesn't really work. And others where I marvel and what the plants have done. There is a limit to the amount of time, energy and resources to work on them and they will be what they will be on the day.

Perfect. I imafgine they want specifics, so you could add something about the type(s) of garden in different areas of the 5 acres and include names of some of the plants.

@SeniorBalloon I agree with cyn427 about using your OP comment in your opening statement to describe your garden! 5 acres sounds like more than a garden & maybe more than a country garden too so your garden is likely to attract interest. I looked at the site for NW Perennial Alliance Garden & it’s really a big deal. My guess is you’re in the Northern section? I’ve taken the local garden tours in my area & it was lots of fun & very informative. The gardens were private & owned by people like us who love to work outside in our private spaces; they were all sizes & shapes and also ran the gamut from jaw droppingly gorgeous to ”just” a nice space to sit and sip a glass of something. What I enjoyed most was seeing the creativity of other gardeners to create a pretty scape out of some challenging sites. Any criticisms I had or heard from others were related to personal preferences about color mixes or something a person would add or delete. The best thing for me was to see garden settings in person that were ’real’ and not the high gloss pics splashed across the pages of a garden magazine that few could create. I also loved learning about some new to me plants & the opportunity to see some mature versions of plants I’d considered for my own yard. I hope you have fun with sharing your gardens with others. I hope too that after the tours you share your thoughts on your experience here.

I think the hardest part is taking the credit for what you've created and getting over that fear of sounding like you're a little more 'full of yourself' than you are. That's the sense I get. You seem to take full credit for the 'mistakes' but it's all just the plants doing it on their own and luck when the idea of success comes up! I don't have any mistakes, just 'works in progress' lol

You could add some specific interests maybe. Woodland plants? Hydrangeas? wildlife? Kind of give an idea of what your theme is.

I'm sure it will look great and many people will get it. If you're worried have a crabby friend stop by and let their complaints fly, and then figure out what you want to or would consider changing. I have friends who ply visitors with wine so that they are more willing to speak honestly!

Another opinion is also helpful when you look at the same thing every day, and you rememebr it through the years. It's hard to see the disaster which grew up around the front entrance when you're all focused on your new favorite planting... or at least that's how I am. I'm the type who is deadheading lilacs while the lawn is an unmown mess and there are hoses tangled across every pathway ;)

I wish I lived closer for a visit! 25 years on 5 acres is a dream I've never realized or will ever have. It's an honor to host. After all, we're all gardeners and we love plants and the people who plant them!

What a beautiful and heartfelt gesture! The decision to submit your garden to the Northwest Perennial Alliance Open Garden program reflects not only your dedication but also your generosity in sharing 25 years of effort, passion, and learning with others. It’s inspiring how you embrace the imperfections and triumphs of your garden as part of its story. Best of luck, and we're sure your garden will leave visitors with a sense of wonder and admiration!

Been there, done that and don't care to repeat it :-) The work to get everything ready for an open garden is huge, regardless of the size of the garden you have. But I was working full time then so my gardening time was limited.

I have also visited many local gardens, both as part of the NPA Open Garden program as well as local garden tours. Some have been remarkable and very memorable while others are very so-so. What always struck me was the design involved - some folks just ave a natural feel for that - as well as the plant choices. It is relatively easy to suss out those gardeners that take an active interest in their garden and those that hire it done and then tart it up with lots of annuals stuck here and there.

Brian, I know you to be a very experienced and talented gardener and I'm sure your garden will read that way as well. I would love to visit when the time comes!!

Just a hint but if you can schedule the open at the same time as other local NPA members, the attendance increases significantly.

Great comments thank you all. To clarify, while we live on 5 acres, it's not all gardens. This isn't a Bellevue Botanical Gardens :o) Its a rustic, home made country garden. The beds are spread out over about two acres with wide sweeps of grass in between. The main concentrations are around the house and in the field below where we have our greenhouse.

The critical comments won't hurt my feelings, I know where things are good and where they're not, but I will be disappointed if people don't feel it was worth their time. It is a bit of a drive to get out here.

During those 25 years my wife and I both worked, (retired now) and have had the normal aging issues that slow you down in the garden. Moving a good sized shrub is a major task these days, so some things are just where they are. Which is fine as I said it is what it is. We love it and its a marvelous place to end the day with a glass of wine.

SB

Greenhouse? You have a greenhouse? Be still my heart! When we moved here to NE Vancouver area from our home in East Hill Kent a greenhouse was on my wish list. I didn’t get one but we do have a lovely storage shed that matches our house in exterior finishes. I wouldn’t be surprised if visitors take an interest in your greenhouse - both exterior plantings around it & peeking inside to see what’s going on there. I did visit Bellevue Botanical Gardens once during holidays to see the lights. Lovely!

I participated in my local garden tour, Open Gardens, for 4 years in a row, prior to the pandemic. Funny, writing that garden description was always a challenge, as I am very artistic, so I’d write these very artsy, non literal descriptions which intrigued and confused folks. But it was how I wanted to express myself. The tours themselves were some of the more anxiety building things I have ever done as I didn’t know what to expect opening up myself to the masses. But folks were overwhelmingly positive and especially appreciative - the first things folks said upon entering was thank you so much for opening your garden. It meant a lot. I’d like to hope it would still be like that if I were to do it again now; however, with increased social media a lot of those filters are off, and you are being taken to task and called out for so many things which a lot of our gardens were established on before we had a lot of current information. I am thinking of opening up my garden again for a final time this year, and I have some ideas on how to address some of the challenges I mentioned. I’d love to hear your experiences!

We have decided not to do the open gardens. Once we started thinking about what we'd want to do before it became more like work and not fun. One of the things I love about being retired and working in the garden is to get up and think about what do I want to do today. Instead it was feeling more like what do we have to do. We may do it some year, but not this year.

"One of the things I love about being retired and working in the garden is to get up and think about what do I want to do today. Instead it was feeling more like what do we have to do."

I look forward to the day I will be able to say the same! (about anything, not just gardening).

I am very fortunate with many blessings. I hope you all get to do this.

Any photos you’d like to share so we can enjoy your garden vicariously?

Here is a collection from the last few years. Some of these beds have been in for many years and others are just getting started.

SB's Garden

We are thinking about doing the open thing for next year...until around February when we'll decide it's again more than we want to do. :0)

It's a 25 year project on 5 acres

@SeniorBalloon, our property is small, in an urban setting (our home is located on land that is less than 50 feet wide by about 105 feet deep) and until relatively recently I would have coveted such an acreage as you have. But if I am to be honest with myself, especially at this stage of my life, I would be unable to fully develop the property and then properly care for it going forward. You are a better man than I am.

(Having said that I'd love to acquire maybe a half acre or so...that would be a significant upgrade from what we have now.)

I know people will come and some will be critical.

@SeniorBalloon, I love going on garden club sponsored garden tours of residential gardens. It is my experience that fellow tour goers are rarely critical. We generally realize the work that goes into creating perennial garden beds. It is almost never that I don't find something that I appreciate in someone else's garden whether it be a specific plant or an arrangement of plants or a hardscape or decorations. (If I had my way I'd be on a tour every weekend of the summer).

@rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) This project started when I was 43, quick math makes me 68. At 68 I feel you on the can I/we take care of all this as it should be. So far so good, but I fully recognize that stuff just happens at this age. I'll do it as long as I can, hopefully for a bit more. We've added several new large beds this year and plan to add a couple more, but not without a bit of concern about whether we can manage it. But as I said, so far so good.

I may need to go to confession sooner rather than later as again I am coveting my houzz friend's garden 😉 as It is always exciting planning and doing a brand new bed. For me, a "new" bed only opens for me if I remove the plantings in an existing bed...which does happen.

What a lovely garden, thank you for sharing the photos!the photos! Count me in if you decide to

SB your garden is beyond lovely and I would encourage you to do the tour. I think you and your wife would be overwhelmed with the positive response!

I am just seeing this thread now. Interesting topic.

" What always struck me was the design involved - some folks just have a natural feel for that - as well as the plant choices."

This is what would keep me from ever doing this...I fully admit my garden will probably always seem more like a hodge podge of plants than a collective with a design imposed on them. I don't have a natural feel for it and I don't care. I am a plant collector first and foremost. And so for that reason I can someday imagine having my garden visited by a plant specific 'society' or group, like the conifer society (the ones who won't miss dwarfs!) or the camellia society, etc. etc.

@SeniorBalloon I echo @peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada perfect post. A wonderful property you have...well done.

@UpperBayGardener (zone 7), I really appreciated your post as it echoes much of what I have thought of my own efforts in the garden However I have found, as I grew older and hopefully more experienced, that I am less of a collector; that my beds are less "hodge podge" :).

(I often wonder what I would do, how I would approach it if I had lots more space to garden).

I do not consider myself good at design. With the space we have I feel we've done a good job of creating spaces based on the topography, but when it comes to plant selection we have a lot to learn. Color combinations, foliage, bloom time, color and spacing are more elements than I have the knowledge or capacity to manage. When we first started we had some large beds that needed filling and it was what we saw at the nurseries and plants we coveted. There is more than a bit of the "Collectors" garden, especially in the early years. You just can't afford to by enough special plants to fill such a large space.

Over the years we've gained understanding and plants have multiplied, but there are still places where it's more than a bit willy nilly and due to time and money constraints you just let the plants do what they want to do. Which in many cases is just fine and things eventually look pretty good, but that's because plants are awesome, more than some plan by us.

Each year we move things around, remove plants we don't like or that don't grow well and find others that work better. And sometimes we've invited plants into the garden that I would rather we hadn't, but their too hard to remove and we just live with them. It's an editing process that I hope lasts the rest of my life.

It's an editing process that I hope lasts the rest of my life.

"Here, Here!" (Oops, I think it is "Hear, Hear"!)