The days are pretty monochromatic and dreary when the sun isn't shining and there is not much to do in the garden but reflect on last season and dream about the upcoming one. So it's a good time to look back at 2017 and share some of the great garden moments we had during our sixth season of volunteering. Last year we had a lot of snow over the Christmas holiday ad as a result, our decorations stayed up for a good part of the winter. We were able to unplug the lights but some of the coloured balls were buried under the snow until it melted.

The Gardeners were anxious to get started in April and before long, the grass was green, the daffodils were blooming and blackly season was in full swing.

Spring is a great time to divide perennials and one of our Gardeners has a great hosta collection in her garden. She was generous enough to share quite a few to get started on a shade garden we have been creating, hidden behind the time capsule.

The lilacs we planted a few years ago are starting to come into their own and brought flowers and fragrance to early summer.

There was a flurry of activity just prior to the Garden being featured by the Horticultural Society's Garden Tour,

as we prepared, Town Staff was busy installing benches and chairs and interpretive signs.

We had a huge windstorm the night before, but between Parks & Rec and the Tower Hill Gardeners, we were all cleaned up in time to host a very special event dedicating our newly installed benches.

The families of the people being honoured by the dedication of the benches were piped in by Morley MacDonald, grandson of Charlie MacDonald who is remembered fondly as "the first Towerman". He helped build the Tower and Garden, plant the Plantation and then watched for fires from the top of the Tower and tended the flowers at its base.

Eric and Dona Simpson enjoy the view from the bench honouring Eric's father, who was the District Forester in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Like many Parry Sounder's, he has fond childhood memories of the Garden and confirmed the location of the fabled Sunken Rose Garden. We have no plans to restore it, as it has morphed into our Secret Shade Garden, hiding behind the time capsule!

The Horticultural Societies of District 18 and the Hobson Family joined to honour the memory of Madeleine Hobson, who dedicated her life to local (and provincial) horticultural efforts.

It was a rainy summer relative to 2016 and we rarely had to water, but we had green grass

... and flowers galore. Fall in Parry Sound is glorious. Georgian Bay delays the frost and the lower sun in the sky softens the colours in the Garden,