Garden Tour Committee

The Garden Tour Committee
Reporting to: Board

Responsibilities:

Organizes a yearly “member-only” garden tour whose purpose is to demonstrate to members the place native plants have in the home/public garden landscape   This may consist of the opening of a single private garden or of multiple gardens open to members simultaneously.

Tasks:

Starting in the months before the tour, the chair asks members if they or anyone whose garden they have admired would be willing to be on the next year’s tour.  They ask screening questions to determine that the garden meets the criteria for being on the tour, namely that there are no plantings of exotic invasive species.  Schedule a time to preview the garden if there is any doubt as to the suitability of the garden for our tour.  Alternately, ask the Native Plant Habitat certification coordinator for suggestions from those gardens that are currently certified.

Determine the date for the tour and put a placeholder on the primary GNPS calendar on the GNPS website.

Select as many as four to five gardens for the tour.  One may be a public garden or park.  Set a date for the tour.  Ask garden owners or their representatives to do a write up about their garden and submit it along with any digital photos taken of their garden at about the same time of year the tour is planned for to the garden tour to the e-brochure editor.

Once the number of gardens to be on the tour is set, order rocks from Southern Sand Designs, allowing 4-6 weeks for them to be ready for pick up.  Southern Sand Designs will send the bill electronically to the treasurer for payment.

Schedule a time and meeting place with Sandy Horah of Southern Sand Designs for pick up of the garden tour rocks.  Arrange to deliver the rocks and sign in books (saved from the previous year’s tour, if there is still room in them) to the prospective garden tour gardens or their owners/representatives in time for them to be in place in the tour gardens on the day of the tour.

Ask the Volunteer Coordinator to help identify volunteers to man the sign in book table and answer questions at each of the tour gardens.  Volunteers are offered 2 ½ hour time slots in the morning, midday and afternoon so that they will still have time to visit the other gardens on the tour if they so choose.

When the e-brochure editor has a rough draft completed, proofread together and correct any errors or omissions.

Send the e-brochure to the webmaster for publication on the website after the membership rolls are purged of those who have not paid their dues for the current year.

Ask the President to send an email notification to the membership with a link to the e-brochure.  Request that the Marketing & Communications committee post current information to the GNPS website.

Designate a photographer or photographers to take pictures in the tour gardens on the day of the tour so that they may be used in a write up for the NativeScape and/or on the website after the tour.

Send thank you e-mails to all those who participated in the Garden Tour as tour gardeners or as volunteers.

Collect all sign in books for use the next year and for determining attendance at each tour garden.