Suburban Bill ventured to the Big Windy to help judge the Sheffield Garden Walk contest. Turning the corner to the street where host Laury Lewis lives, Suburban Bill was greeted with a toppled tree blocking the entire street. Knowing a little about how the city works, Suburban Bill cut through the alley to the next block and found a parking place.
    The tree, an ash, had just given way about nine feet up, sending a huge limb tumbling onto a parked car and resting on a wire supplying power to a street light. Not only was Laury already noticing his shaded front garden would now be a sun garden, but he was concerned about how careful a city crew might be about trampling his parkway plants.
    Worrying aside, it was time to assess the contest gardens. Not all of the nearly 80 gardens that will be open the weekend of July 18-19 entered the contest, thankfully. Only eight entered the “Overall” category, four in the “Container” category, and the number was even more compacted as three were entered in both. Laury drove, thankfully, threading the needle several times between trucks and parked vehicles.
    While we can’t divulge who won what, we can report that Coco, the King Charles spaniel, was well loved and returned every affection. Homeowner Erica volunteered to let any one of us take Coco home, possibly explaining the turf patch in several areas of the backyard. Coco apparently had damaged the original grass and was in the doghouse, so to speak.
    The next visit took us to the edge of a moral dilemma. The homeowner greeted us with a press kit and told us she had prepared sangria for our visit. We must disclose we accepted the bribe but made sure in our deliberations that we did not allow that to influence our decision. It was difficult.
    Finally, we toured one garden and noticed some wonderful containers in the parkway a few doors away. We met the homeowner who took us around back to a stunningly beautiful patio with fountain, great containers and a view of the back of the building. He had taken off the traditional back porches and added an addition in brick. Inside was an elevator to take guests to a lookout on the fifth level. We weren’t so obnoxious to ask for a view from there but did query if he would open the garden for the walk. He had a reasonable answer but did say he might leave a sign out during the walk that the back garden would be open. If you see such a sign, be sure to see what outdoor living can really be about.
    And then it was back to retrieve Suburban Bill’s car. Hmmm, when did that moving truck arrive and double park within millimeters of the side of the car? Driver found, will move truck, carefully please. Suburban Bill was off to sit in traffic.

— William Aldrich