The Garden Tea Party

The great joy of living in Coleridge Park is my fellow denizens; and one of the finest is Jude, who was inspired by our bedraggled garden to organize a Garden Club to take care of it. Many of us had been pitching in at times to do some watering or maintenance; but this was, at least in my case, hit and miss…and the garden showed it. So Jude called for volunteers who’d commit to taking a regular shift, and she got seven of us to join her. She draws up a schedule assigning a pair of us for each week of the month and posts the schedule every month to remind us.

The pairs are Rose and Eileen, Jude and Sally, John and me, and Jesse and Mary (who are our newest residents and are indefatigable volunteers as well as inexhaustible fonts of creative energy). Some of them go out together, but it fits John’s and my schedule better if, except for unreeling and rereeling the hose for watering, we work separately, since he has less need for constant conversation than little loquacious me.

This system has worked splendidly, and the garden looks better and better with every passing month, partly because of the extra attention but also because some of us are taking advantage of the space provided by dead plants and bringing in replacements. For example, I added a two-foot-tall Meyer Lemon that seemed quite happy at first but then lost all its leaves even though it’s still covered in flower buds.

Jude took it to the next level when she suggested that to celebrate the improvements in the garden, we club members throw a Garden Tea Party for all the residents on the 8th. In preparation for the tea, some of us gathered the night before to help Mary and Jesse with their idea of stringing crepe paper on bungee cords. And then the next morning we went out and helped them stretch the cords between trees to decorate the garden.

Jesse and I were designated as “Garden Tour Guides” because she is so knowledgeable about plants and because one of my little things is knowing botanical names (at least genus and often also species) of most of the succulents seen in California gardens, quite a few of which not having common names.

All the Garden Club members brought finger food, as did most of the other who attended. And since everyone brought enough food to serve several, there was great abundance of deliciousness, and I was not alone in gorging myself.

But better than the food was the camaraderie. All the previous garden events I’ve attended fizzled out fairly soon, but this one kept going on. People didn’t want to leave, and it wasn’t just because the weather was particularly nice. Somehow the conversations were also extra fine. I cannot imagine a happier gathering.

I forgot my camera, but fortunately Fides didn’t. Here’s a shot she took of one of the tables.