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ken_adrian

have you toured a garden in rain

well???? ... have you .... lol..

have you spent time in the garage or barn.. waiting for it to abate???

whats the worst storm you waited out ...

how deep was the water you waded thru???

ever get a snowstorm while touring a garden??? [probably rules out you deep south folks ....]

ken

Comments (18)

  • ginny12
    12 years ago

    I have toured many gardens in the rain. The negatives are obvious. The positives are quite a few.

    Rain makes a lot of people stay home or run inside so you get the garden almost to yourself. When I was at Hidcote Manor in England, one of the most renowned gardens in the world, I was amazed at the crowds disappearing at every sprinkle. I got some great photos thanks to the rain.

    A rainy day, if not too dark and cloudy, also can create some great photos--moody and mysterious. Not so much glare and contrast.

    Rain often keeps the temperatures down too. I hate heat.

    There are more....And no, Ken, I've never taken cover. Only lightning drives me indoors.

    Have toured a few gardens in a light snowfall--also some very pretty photos!

    An interesting question, Ken. Thanks for bringing it up.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    ever been on a tour.. when the sky turned green-yellow.. and the tornado sirens were blowing??? ....

    i took cover that time ... lol

    ken

    PS: but went right back out 10 minutes later when it blew over ...

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    I WISH I could tour my garden in the rain right now! ;(

    I do like to see gardens in the rain as long as there is no lightning (or sirens-lol, Ken). The greens take on a whole new dimension then. Don't mind getting wet-I am fine as long as I have a hat to keep the rain from rolling down my face. For some reason, that bugs me.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    you know why everything looks different.. color wise???

    your eyeballs are wide open.. as compared to squinting ....

    ergo.. the camera lens is capturing more color range ...

    ken

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago

    Yes, Ken Gibson's rhododendron garden in Tofino on Vancouver Island. It was raining, quite hard at times but the rhodies were so magnificent it didn't matter.

  • mxk3 z5b_MI
    12 years ago

    (Are you trying to drop a hint?)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    then there was the 1998 national hosta society banquet dinner

    tents set up like some 500 person wedding .... at this to die for landscape business just outside ann arbor ....

    just as we were getting off the busses.. the skies opened up... it never did stop.. i had a fast dinner of whatever ... some kind of picnic type stuff...

    and proceeded to wade around the garden with rain puddles up past my ankles. ... and this was before i knew about muck boots ... i wonder now.. why i just didnt take off my shoes .... no thunder or lightening.. just a good old downpour ...

    i do believe the busses immediately started taking peeps back to the convention hotel ....

    ken

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    That sounds perfect, ken! Dinner, hosta garden, and rain! Barefoot would have even been better.

  • MollyDog
    12 years ago

    Not to hijack your post, but did any of you make it to the Buffalo Garden Walk? Over 350 gardens. I was fortunate enough to be there two days and I would have walked those in the rain. Couldn't believe the beautiful gardens!

  • christinmk z5b eastern WA
    12 years ago

    I don't tour many gardens (in rain or otherwise), but have gone to many a nursery in the downpour. I was at a local plant sale this spring and it was terribly rainy for awhile. I hoped everyone would clear out so I could have the place to myself with no crowds, but no such luck! All of them must have been hard core gardeners like me because no one seemed to mind being soaked with cold rain!

    Once while plant shopping, can't remember if I was plant shopping here or in Seattle, it suddenly poured down rain. I was not expecting it and was in my "pretty" sandals that are very slick. I nearly slipped in this huge puddle in the parking lot and did end up breaking my sandal anyway, LOL.
    CMK

  • remy_gw
    12 years ago

    Molly,
    Yes, I was there. (My garden was in the Ken-Ton tour the previous weekend.) No rain this year! It is fun. I first went when it all began. I did run into a gardener who I remembered from all those years ago.
    The link below is pics I took. The lady with me is Gottagarden who many of you know here.

    Ken,
    I've gone to visit Cottage Gardens Daylilies, and had it rain pretty good one time. My friends and I were undeterred by the rain. We had a good time anyway.
    Remy

    Here is a link that might be useful: Photos from the Buffalo Garden Walk

  • hostaholic2 z 4, MN
    12 years ago

    Much better to tour gardens in the rain than in blistering heat, though that's doable too. Besides when it's raining the only other people you run into are also diehard gardeners. Can't top Ken's experiences though! lol

  • MollyDog
    12 years ago

    Remy, thank you for sharing the pictures. I missed the ones with all the vertical planters and the one with the tea cups.

  • gottagarden
    12 years ago

    Seems every year I plan a big do in my garden it rains!

    Garden club came over and we toured under umbrellas. Problem is people are in a hurry in the rain, they want to blitz through and get back inside.

    Had my parents 50th anniversary party at my house. Spent weeks weeding, grooming, cutting back, staking. It looked great! That day our town had their first ever tornado. Nobody even went outside to look, all that work for nothing!

    Yes, I went to Buffalo Garden Walk - FABULOUS!

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    yeah.. you buffalo peeps need your own post ... but honestly.. i dont care.. at least we have an active post ...

    then there was the MI hosta society overnight bus trip .. 1996 or 97

    got to ann arbor at some ungodly hour.. like 6am ... and headed out to mansfield OH ....

    at 6 am .. it was a gorgeous cool MI morning .... with the potential of many great gardens ... we are all dressed in shorts and tee's ....

    3 or 4 hours later as per usual tour bus rules ... we are all freezing to death from too much air conditioning ... lol ... and we pull into van wades hosta gardens.. one of the worlds premier hosta display gardens ... which is tucked in a small valley next to a river ...

    the bus doors are thrown open.. and as you stepped to the ground.. it was like being hit in the lungs with a sauna ... near 100 degrees ... and 100% humidity .... and no wind to mention ... its one thing to loll in a sauna .. its just another thing to take a 2 or 3 mile hike in the garden ...

    ohhh.. to be in hosta nirvana.. with the heat of hell .. lol ...

    didnt stop me though .. but it stopped a lot of the older folks.. who just found benches ... and scanned the gardens.. then crawled to the next one ...

    to put it into perspective.. IT WAS THE GREATEST HOSTA TOUR I HAVE EVER BEEN ON !!!!! .... except for this post.. i forgot all about hosta hell.. lol ...

    ken

  • paul_
    12 years ago

    I haven't been out much during a rain except on rare occasions, but I have often been out right after a rain.

    As Ken mentioned, colors are often much more vivid -- but not so much due to pupil dilation. Rather, so much of the glare resulting from bright sun has been eliminated ... just like using a polarizing filter on one's camera. In addition branches/trunks, rocks, and dirt generally get substantially darker after having been wetted down. This in turn helps to make other colors "pop".

    If you haven't been out and about during or after a rain, I'd recommend giving it a go. I think you might be surprised by just how much brighter even the normal greens of plants seems to almost glow.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    12 years ago

    I've been to Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus when it was raining. Although I was inside, the mostly glass building seemed totally different without the harsh sun spots and dark shadows.

    If you consider mother nature's handiwork a garden... Once while hiking in Old Man's Cave outside Logan, OH, it started to rain. We were sheltering under a leaning rock and the sound of the rain was shockingly loud, which I think was magnified by the echo effect in the canyon. Unforgettable and very cool how efficiently the water disappeared after the rain stopped.

    Remy, loved the pics from Buffalo garden walk! It wouldn't let me, but I would have "liked" a bunch of those! I even saved a copy of #23 to reference later.

  • buyorsell888
    12 years ago

    I live in Oregon, have toured many gardens in the rain....at Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC they hand out clear plastic umbrellas. DH wanted to go back to the hotel but I refused. :) Can't be in Victoria and not go to Butchart Gardens...

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