SEAFIRE ~ ~ ~ * You ROCK !!!!!!!!!!!! A W E S O M E ~ thanks for the WONDERFUL PICS !!!! You are a true blue GJer !!!!!!!!!! I really LUV, everything you have done !!!!! Thanks so much for sharing and the IDEAS !!!! God Bless ! SusieSunshine *** See how wonderful God is.... even in your time of so called Worldly ~ loss ~ you turned it ~ ALL Around for " GOOD" and now... you have shared the grand tour with us !!! That is a BLESSING to me.... THIS Old world can't keep US DOWN!!!! K * E * E * P ~ on ~ KEEP'N ON !!!!!!!!!!!!

gb - the garden with the clematis arch had nothing to do with the church - it's a mile or two away in suburbia while the church is in the center of town on the main street, closely surrounded by businesses. The garden arbour just reminded me of the church ones so we stopped on the way home to take some pictures of the church arbour. (Actually, I never even realized there was a garden in there! You can see the arbour from the street but the garden isn't visible. Until I saw the pictures Randy took, I had never seen it - now I need to go take a look myself! The local Horticultural Society has its meetings in the church hall. I'm not sure if they had anything to do with having the arbour built or not.) We spoke to the owner of the clematis arch when we were in the garden - that's how I knew the color etc. She said she lost the tag so didn't know the name but did know it was a type that you weren't supposed to prune hard. I don't know if it'll help any but the leaves looked like this: Kathy - I've heard so many scary bamboo stories, I would dare plant it even in a pot! I'd hate to be the neighbours of the garden with that huge bamboo - I'm sure they'll eventually have problems...

We had our local "garden crawl" this weekend too. It was 5 gardens which were all "do it yourself" featuring anything from flower gardens to purely veggie gardens (and some of both). Most people had "non-elaborate" (it's all DIY) gardens but most are probably not something that people would consider "saleable" gardens. That's because most of us don't want to sell! We moved here to move here (most of the people on the tour chose their homes based on the exterior space, and were gardeners before they moved in, only one wasn't and she is just starting her garden but has an awesome yard for gardening!!!). NOTHING like your tour at all. However gardening isn't the only attraction. We also "crawl" from each house after fun beverage after beverage. By 4pm so many were daydrunk they went home before our dinner plans. I focused on water, and keeping hydrated and a wonderful time with good friends.

When I saw the first picture, I said "Green Spill"--couldn't miss that color and especially that BIG green throat. Really like your pictures, and what a fun day you had, getting to go to all those gardens. Avedon