David Hobson, gardening columnist for the Waterloo Region Record, offered a tour of his backyard garden recently. All he asked, when he announced the tour in his weekly column, was that guests bring a toonie for the Food Bank for the privilege.

I met Hobson for the first time when I was a relatively new writer.  He came to talk to writers at our local chapter of  the Canadian Authors Association. He talked about the business of writing a book, as well as dishing out some garden humour and selling his book on gardening. After all, he was not only a writer; he was also a serious gardener. And when one writes a book such as this, one is perceived to be an expert.

I bought his book, Diary of a Mad Gardener, that evening and gave it to my parents as a gift. That’s a number of years ago and now as out-of-print books go, it has been turned into an ebook.  I could borrow the book from my mother’s shelf and read it, for while my parents are avid gardeners, they also hang onto a good book, even after reading it cover to cover and chuckling over the garden humor.

I’ve been on a previous tour of Hobson’s garden; we gardeners like to change things around in our yards, and we also know that gardens evolve in time according to how things grow or don’t grow, and so when my neighbour, Flora, asked if I’d like to go on the tour with her, I said, “Yes!”

We showed up on the Sunday afternoon, walked through a sheltered arbour covered with plants and were welcomed by David’s partner. We threw our toonies in the bucket and took our time wandering the paths. There was much to see and much more than I’ll write about here, where I’ll just give you some highlights. A reason to go  on the tour next year.

This watering can won’t work to water other plants anymore, but it makes a great container for a flowering plant to spill out of. Watch for more whimsy in his backyard.

Flowering plant growing up a tripod. Anyone know what this plant is called?

Hydrangea’s large  pink blooms

I love these purple and white beauties.

These flowers are  gorgeous too.

There was a vegetable garden in the back which we could peek into and not enter. I wonder if he ever has issues with rabbits or other four-legged creatures eating his vegetables.

A pond with the gurgle of moving water and fish swimming around the lily pads.One lily is in bloom.

 Here’s a unique touch to the garden: hens and chicks growing on a cement hat.

I  zoomed in on this flower stalk. I have purple coneflower in my garden, but not this yellow beauty.

Coreopsis in my garden has green leaves and not silver as these flowers  have. We asked about flower species or names of plants and David gladly answered our queries.

The gardener/writer David Hobson reading something. A gracious host in his garden. The tour was well worth the time.