Whew! What a Weekend.

Open House on Saturday was amazing!  The weather was threatening all day, with clouds and occasional drizzle, but true rose lovers are not defeated by a few raindrops.  We had fewer visitors than I expected because of the weather, but this meant that each person who came here could have more of my attention.  Garden tours were longer and more detailed than I thought I would have time to do.  I had adequate time to answer everyone's questions and make suggestions regarding rose varieties.  I was afraid things would be crowded and hectic ... and I was pleased that it wasn't like that.

New Dawn, wearing raindrops.

The roses for sale on the nursery benches were lined up alphabetically, to make it easy for us to find the individual varieties.  Quite a few of these little beauties went to new homes before the day was over.

The Open House wouldn't have been as successful or relaxed without the help of some very special people.  Two of our daughters took turns writing up sales ... one worked in the morning, and the other took the afternoon shift.  My friend Robert spent the day helping me answer questions about rose care and selection of varieties while I was in the garden leading tours. 

My biggest help, and my strongest supporter, is my husband.  He works so hard for days like these ...helping with all the preparations, playing parking attendant, directing visitors around the gardens, writing sales, making lunch, and countless other things.  There is no way I could do this without him.

I would love to show you some more photos of the garden, but there is a hitch.  I have some really nice photos that I took with my new lens, but I discovered on Sunday that I have misplaced my memory card.  Armed with a new memory card that I bought this afternoon, tomorrow's weather promises to be favorable and I have a LOT of roses to photograph. 

I wonder if one of the cats made off with the memory card?