Sundays are usually a good day to spend some quality time in your garden, but this past Sunday (June 26) saw Squamish residents spending the day wandering in other people's gardens as part of the Squamish Gardeners Club's seventh annual Garden Tour.
The Garden Tour is a way for the club to share its love of all things green with others in the community, said Eleanor Bowcock, president of the Squamish Gardeners.
"Only 10 gardens are chosen for the tour every year," she said. "We put out a call for gardens in the spring.
"Once the people submit their gardens, we have a small committee that goes around and looks at the gardens," said Bowcock. "We don't necessarily pick the best gardens, because it is hard to evaluate what is 'best'. It is really in the eye of the beholder."
She said the committee tries to pick gardens that show a variety of different things from vegetables to flowers.
For a $10 fee, tour-goers were given a map of Squamish marked with the locations of the ten gardens on this year's tour. People who only wanted to see certain gardens could pay $1 per garden at each site.
"The money raised goes towards upkeep of the club and paying for guest speakers," said Bowcock. "I have a modest garden of my own, but it has never been on the tour."
Some of the gardens on this year's tour had been on the tour in the past, but Bowcock said the same gardens never repeat in two consecutive years.
"There is one garden this year that was featured three years ago and another that was in the tour five years ago, but we never have gardens that are in every year," she said. "It is neat for people who take the tour regularly to see how a garden has changed over a few years, though."
The club of more than 50 members meets every third Monday of every month at the Squamish Library to discuss gardening techniques, share experiences and tips, as well as listen to guest speakers.