Great Gardening: Reflections on the season's garden walks and tours
Buffalo News
By Sally Cunningham
How lovely it would be to have a survey of all the gardeners and visitors to answer, “What was different in the gardens and on the walks this year?” No such survey exists, and my observations can only represent my experiences and what I heard during my random July visits on garden walks and the Tours of Open Gardens.
But I did note trends and a broad evolution in perspective and priorities. The answers to “What’s new?” landed in three broad categories.
Positive, affirming, joyful
Whenever I laid my question at host gardeners’ busy feet, they answered spontaneously with a variation of: “People are so thrilled to be doing this!” “They are so happy to be outside seeing flowers and other people!” “It’s all about community, even more than about the gardens.”