Linda Reeve purchased, donated and put together all of the lovely drawing items and baskets. Thanks to Linda’s generosity, the drawing raised $2,695.

Dora-­Thea Porter created all of the beautiful print media used to advertise the tour, including postcards, Dlyers, posters, and the brochure/ticket that included the easy-­‐to-­‐follow garden map.

Thank you, Tena Gallagher and Connie Cady for setting up the directional signs and balloons at all Dive of our tour homes.

Once again this year, Carol Highton recruited local restaurants that supported the tour by offering special discounts to our guests.

Many thanks are sent to Melanie Wade for keeping our web page up to date and to Roseann Krane and Soni Leighton who supported the tour by publishing our eBlasts to the membership and offering gentle reminders to the co-­chairs when our Advocate articles were due!

External publicity was handled by the ever-­efficient Mary Granzatto, who did an outstanding job of submitting tour articles to various local media outlets. We received quite a few calls thanks to Mary’s articles and postings.

Fresh from handling ticket sales from December’s Holiday Home Tour, the dynamic duo of Mary Mix and Marcia Steinhardt pulled double-­duty by offering to lead ticket sales for the Garden Tour as well.  Our ticket chairs interacted with the East Bay Flower Company, who has graciously handled our in-­person ticket sales for the past few years.

Our fundraising tours would not be possible were it not for the wonderful docents who greeted our guests with a smile while keeping a watchful eye over the beautiful gardens that were entrusted to them.  A special thank you is sent to our Head Docents, who were assigned to each garden:

Marsha Anderson, Mary Ellen Blake, Anna Freitas, Roseann Krane, and Chris Winter took care of all the specific details on both days of the tour and we appreciate your efforts! Our docents were Loretta Altshuler, Angela Anatasion, Asha Bajaj, Jessica Barrett, Sylvia Benzler, Nancy Bocanegra, Carol Boniglio, Kayrene Braden, Pam Burdusis, Hazel Chappell, Beth Clark, Sharon Cohune, Joan Conley, Fari Falaki, Bette Felton, Ilene Ferguson, Norma George, Nancy Goreth, Mary Granzatto, Robin Halloran, Jo Harberson, Kathy Harkins, Katie Holzheimer, Jarilyn Jennison, Carol Kennedy, Sandy Killoran, Karen Large, Karen Larkin, Soni Leighton, Mala Marcus, Marilyn McCurdy, Laurie Miller, Bev Nidick, Marsha Riley, Caroline Sanchez, Holly Sauer, Judy Simkin, Marjorie Singler, Marcia Steinhardt, Jane Stimpson, Susan Terzuoli, Joyce Tenney, Mary Twist, Melanie Wade, Barbara Welch, Liz Williams and Sharon Zhao.

This year our “Heroes of the Tour” were our shuttle drivers. With happy smiles on their faces and a great deal of patience, they directed parking and drove guests to and from two of our gardens, all the while answering general AAUW and garden-­specific questions. Mary Ellen Blake, Lynn Goodwin, Kathie Hixon, Eric Holzheimer, Katie Holzheimer, Soni Leighton, Ernie Nidick, Kim Sauer, Paul Sauer and Sharon Zhao, we can’t thank you enough!

What’s a garden tour on a warm, spring weekend without some tasty, cool refreshments? We thank Loretta Lewis and Holly Sauer for organizing this effort. Loretta provided a welcoming environment for our guests and Holly organized the refreshment donations. We thank everyone who provided the delicious treats and Arlene Barnett, Beth Clark, Carol Highton, Pat Madsen, Kim Sauer, Barbara Stumpf and Cathy Taughinbaugh for serving as hostesses at the refreshment house.

Memories of our tour are captured forever thanks to the creative talents of Marian Bliss, our official Tour Photographer. Marian carefully researched each garden, visiting each one during the tour to take some spectacular pictures. Thank you, Marian!

And finally, we are indebted to our wonderful Garden Tour homeowners for sharing their beautiful treasures with us: Carol Berkowitz, Jana and Tony Haertl, Karen Levy, Dick and Katie Radler and Kathy and Jonathan Till.  Words cannot express our appreciation for your kind hospitality and support!

As we wrap up this year’s tour and begin planning for 2014, we are reminded of our mission to provide academic scholarships fordeserving young women scholars. We are indeed fortunate to have so many supportive members and friends who are willing to share their time and talent to ensure that our mission is carried out.

We thank you for making this possible!

Your 2013 Garden Tour Co-­Chairs, Mary Holzheimer and Kathy McKnight