Blog posts have been in short supply here as I have been preparing for the 2012 Gentian Garden Tour which is a fund raising event for my garden club. Ten gardens in Scituate and Foster, RI were on tour on Saturday. The week prior to the date was clear, sunny and warm and towards the end of the week even the humidity dropped. 
The gardeners all primped and planted, edged and mulched and prior to Saturday over 200 tickets had been sold. Alas, heavy rain came in early on Saturday morning. Not just a mist, but a gusher with almost two inches of rain falling during the day. Most of the rain was confined to the morning with a bit of tapering off occurring about five hours in the middle of the day. It is a good thing that most garden lovers are hardy. 
Umbrellas, raincoats and boots were the order of the day as almost 100 brave souls toured my garden. My friends across the road, The Dynamic Duo - Brenda and Rocky, also had their garden on tour which helped attract the crowds to this gravel road to nowhere but our homes. The 'Pink Chimes' Styrax japonicus had been damaged in an early snowstorm last year. The heavy snow load bent the main trunk as the tree still carried its leaves. 
It did return to an almost upright position until this heavy rain on the numerous blooms caused it to bend to greet the garden guests on Saturday. 
It formed a bower of flowers at the entry to the left front border. Many perennials have bloomed early this season which created a bit of concern. 
No one really knew what would be in bloom on the appointed tour day. No matter, the garden visitors roamed the borders at their leisure. Most had an umbrella and few were concerned by the weather. 
The Allium bulgaricum aka Nectaroscordum siculum ssp. bulgaricum was in full bloom as was the 
Hydrangea anomala petiolaris climbing the oak tree in the entry garden. 
The borders were polished by the rain which served to wash the leaves of a heavy coating of yellow pine pollen. The patio umbrella glowed in the grayness of the day and the climbing roses bloomed early to echo the umbrella color. 
The garden looked as proper as it ever has thanks to many helping hands this year. 
I would say the work in the garden is done for the season but all gardeners know this is never true. The rain has already encouraged more latent weed seeds to germinate so I will be out there weeding a bit and finishing up in the vegetable garden which has taken a back seat to borders this year. There will be deadheading and pinching and maybe even a bit more planting. Mother Nature may not have cooperated with our garden club concerning this tour but she really did not keep away the most avid garden lovers. I do wish you had been here but if you wish a short, up close and personal tour of the left front border, you can check out this video. I will be posting more videos as it is very difficult to show a garden in its entirety in still pictures.
