Duncan Tour Delights Avid Gardening Fans

The weather was 100 percent iffy. Wind had knocked hats off. The clouds were murky and seemingly up to something. And forecasters on TV had been talking about a possible thunderstorm. Maybe even hail.

But it takes more than that to scare gardeners.

These people routinely face down aphids and root rot, for heaven’s sake.

So nobody seemed all that surprised Thursday night when some 30 people showed up beneath a darkening sky for a tour of Manito Park’s Duncan Garden.

Six or eight graduates of the WSU/ Spokane County master gardeners program served as guides. And before the group split in two and started an ambling bed-by-bed inspection, they said virtually everything we were about to see was going to be changed during the garden’s upcoming renovation.

A woman named Cinde held up a drawing of how designers envision the garden’s future. “Looks like it will be beautiful,” she said.

Then it was on to check out gazania rigens, matricaria and the other attractions.

“With the drought-tolerant plants, how do you know when to water them?” one man asked.

“When your soil is really, really dry,” answered one of the guides.

Over by the central fountain, teenagers in Shakespearean costumes ate bananas and brownies.

Not far away, a preschooler gamboling on the grass had his every move recorded by a man with a video camera. And high up in the trees bordering Duncan Garden, crows offered a running commentary.

“Now everybody knows what this is, I bet,” Cinde said as the group approached another flower bed. There were several nods as we regarded centaurea cyanus, also known as blue diadem.

A couple of stops later, a woman asked if the flowers we were admiring attracted butterflies.

No one was quite sure. But it was no big deal. Because the tour wasn’t about seeing who could be the biggest know-it-all. It was about checking out an evolving Spokane landmark and sharing a passion.

When a master gardener named Jack got going about weed control, it was easy to visualize him on his knees, happily doing battle in his yard.

After about an hour, it was time to go home. The setting sun had broken through.

“I have information sheets on lawn renovation up at the car,” said Cinde.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits gatherings in the Inland Northwest.