First, 60 garden bloggers, then a photo shoot, then 2,000 visitors. Oy.

I've had just about the busiest (and best) time over the last two weeks. Not moments after I help plan, plot & shepherd 70 garden writers and bloggers around the country to Buffalo's gardening sites & institutions, I then have to focus on having a good-sized photo shoot in my garden for this coming Friday. Then, there's this little thing of helping throw the largest garden tour in the country, taking place on Saturday and Sunday. We're expecting 50,000-plus people for the tour -- 2,000 of which will plod through my garden. Can you imagine prep work? And my angst?

Fortunately the work required for all three events is the same -- clean up the garden. So it's been three weeks of constant editing, last-minute stunt plants, weeding, trimming, blowing, raking, mulching, deadheading, pruning, watering, sweeping, and so on. Oh, and edging. Edging makes everything look a bit more polished. That, and eliminating every dead leaf. Good thing it's a small yard.

I'm trying to use my art director's eye and experience with decades of photo shoots as well as the knowledge I've gained over the years prepping for ten-plus garden tours. As the week wears on, I have one more small project to accomplish, and then just constant clean up. As you would any room in the house if guests were coming.

The dining room is cleaned up.

 

The kitchen counter got a wash down.

The kitchen is looking good.

 

The den's in order.

The pantry was re-organized (and restocked).

 

The kid's playroom has never looked better.

 

New strawberry plants at the base of the raised-bed potager. There's a knee-high dwarf apple espalier that's becoming a "living fence" around the potager. Can you spot my one and only apple?

The reading room is ready.

 

The dining room wall pattern is looking good.

The bar is not yet set. That's a last-minute thing.

The front hall is looking rosy.

 

The foyer is fine. It's lavender-scented.

 

The receiving room is all set.

The jewel box is safely out of reach.

 

The sconces are glowing.

The main hallway rarely looks better.

 

The parquet floor could use some help. Next year, it gets re-worked.

 

The bamboo wall is impenetrable.

The mud room will be the last area to get cleaned up.

 

The bath is cleaned up. The lid is down.

 

The living room is looking good.