Greetings from the garden tour!
(aka outdoor galleries of love, green stuff incidental)
♥
The woman whose backyard is a solid field of day lilies (hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them) and who at first I think must be slightly unhinged until she explains her joy at every day coming outside to see what new bloom among dozens and dozens of varieties has opened. She not only grows them but cross pollinates to create unique hybrids and borrows her kids’ backyards because there’s no room in hers anymore. She wins awards.
Hers husband is on the patio, watching the crowds, and as I leave I stop and say to him, Nice place but you ought to consider getting some day lilies…
The woman who turned a tiny shaded downtown lawn into a glen of cool sanctuary complete with three locally made wrought iron pyramid towers and places to sit and contemplate them.
The woman with a deck full of passion flower vine and other tropicals who doesn’t have a sun room in her house but simply asks the plants to do their best in various windows and they oblige her and are stunningly beautiful and vibrantly healthy. Singing to them doesn’t hurt she says when asked for tips.
The woman whose yard is full of crazy objects, tea cups hanging from branches, giant wooden playing cards nailed over three sides of fencing, mirrors, bird feeders, figurines, mobiles, sun catchers, flea market and thrift shop finds… too much!! my brain screams as I wander in and consider wandering out again but just then the woman appears and we talk and her joy changes the scene from something I don’t understand… to one that brings utter contentment and peace as she explains the pleasure it gives her to see it all from her kitchen, or from her place on the couch. She would rather look out the window than watch TV on a rainy day, she says. She puts this stuff out each spring and puts it away again in giant bins each winter. It’s time consuming and possibly a form of madness she laughs, but I shake my head, say it feels more like her form of art. She nods. Then she takes me round to the front to show me a few things I might have missed on my way in.
♦
Other (not always) wordless friends:
Cheryl Andrews
Allison Howard
Barbara Lambert
Allyson Latta
Elizabeth Yeoman
Matilda Magtree 
Summer reflections! What a lovely garden scene. I adore out door mirrors, and you’ve caught these perfectly.
I never expect much from a garden tour… I worry it will be all pompous landscaping that’s on offer (and there were one or two of those). Such a treat to stumble upon charm, such an absolute pleasure to discover how different things make people tick and why they choose what they choose. Doesn’t matter whether the style is my cup of tea, it’s the passion (versus show offy-ness; there is such a difference!) people have for their wee slice of land that gets to me. Those conversations are magic. (And yes, mirrors!)
Favourite garden addition to my own wee kingdom is a fairy door. Locally made and placed at the foot of a stump. (Don’t bother trying to open the door yourself, btw. Only works for fairies. Unless, of course, you are one in disguise, then ‘After You My Dear Alphonse’…)
As always Carin, your story behind the photo is as charming as the photo itself. I love seeing the mirrors as I have hung a couple of mirrors here and there on the fence and people always say, “why do you have mirrors in the garden?” Sometimes they’re startled because they catch a glimpse of movement (themselves), and sometimes they think it’s “freaky” and sometimes they laugh, and they are almost always puzzled. I love the way they reflect the garden back to you – double pleasure!
I love the way you describe catching a glimpse of movement in a garden mirror. Excellent point. I always think of them reflecting the yard but, really, the surprise of seeing oneself travelling through it is the real prize. In fact it’s the wee surprises in a garden I love best. Coming around a corner and seeing ‘something’ unusual or seemingly out of place, a teapot, anything.
Love it Carin when there’s a bit of you inside your intriguing images. Hope you get the opportunity to tell the woman with the day lily garden, that they are an edible perennial, originally imported as a vegetable. The yellow ones are particularly delicious. Harvested as the bud develops to about-to-open stage. I slice them into salads or just pick off the plant and munch. Sweet, light celeriac flavour. Apparently they are wonderful in a saute too.
Ooooh. That’s new to me. I won’t see that woman again and, to be honest, I doubt she’d want to eat her babies (I’m sure she thinks of them as something similar, VERY nurturing of them). But I’m thrilled to have this info. I only have a precious few yellow so wouldn’t want to feast on them, but it’s a good reason to plant more! Thank you!
Dried daylily buds are popular in China as an ingredient for certain dishes. They are delicious, slightly sweet and tangy. I LOVE this photo, for all the reasons noted above and also because those particular shades of blue and green are so wonderful together and so very summery. And have you actually sent it to anybody as a postcard? Because it would be a fabulous one.
I think I may be the only one who doesn’t know about daylilies on the buffet. Must do some research. Love that you love the shots’s postcard aspirations! (: