WOOF WOOF or No Hot-Shot Show-Me-The-$ Gardens A gardening month extraordinaire! Garden tour upon garden tour…public ones, private ones…I am left invigorated and if possible, even more dedicated… The near and dear to my heart ARF Animal Rescue Fund Garden Tour of The Hamptons was woofier than ever. Not even one of the seven gardens was a See-How-Much-Money-I-Can-Spend garden or a "landscaper’s garden" — they were all real gardens made over time and with incredibly distinct personalities…I loved this one of John Stedila fashioned around an old fire house But the best woofy story was the realization of how the participants came together to make it a great day. Erika Shank, garden #2, sliced through her hand with a jack-saw on Memorial Day weekend. From elbow-up, she has been totally out of commission, so what could she do about dressing up her garden the week before hundreds of avid and hungry garden tourers were about to descend? Well, what Erika did was rely on her friends……Ngaere Macray, garden #3, and her band of angels to the rescue. Her garden looked beautiful, here is my friend Mary Busch in front of Erika’s lovingly sculpted hedges. Woof Woof Woof And here is Lys with Eileen Catalano, garden #5, snacking on fresh delicious black-podded peas — one of the many delights of Eileen’s garden/farm where special teardrop birds nests hang in profusion to attract martens, bees buzz and a fabulous assortment of chickens provide food, fertilizer and a gigantic dose of personality.

So what is happening? My garden is about to burst with lilies, there are grapes ripening on the vinesand the vitex is filled with buds. And this is only the end ofJune.… and most unusual. Even more disturbing are the dry crackly leaves falling in droves from the London Plane and other Trees. What this means for my garden on September 11 (Garden Conservancy) I cannot say, but what does it mean for the planet? It is not good.