The eighth annual Our Lady of Perpetual Help Tea and Garden Tour on April 27 brought guests to the backyard of Sally Coss' beautiful Valencia home to enjoy high tea and spectacular beauty.

The event was hosted by the OLPH "Teabags," the women who decorate the Newhall church according to seasons, and serve an elegant high tea each year in support of the church's building fund.

Guests were treated to a spectacular explosion of color in Coss' magnificent garden, which features
hundreds of roses and other flowering plants and trees below the well-groomed patio, lawn and pool.

Guests wandered through the garden paths and down the terraced slope where they could view the roses,
including those named for each of Coss' five children, nine grandchildren and many friends. Numerous shady arbors offered a chance to stop, rest and revel in the garden's beauty.

"The recent warm weather has really caused the garden to ‘pop,'" said Coss. "I think it's as pretty as it
has ever been."

Coss has also planted a variety of fruit and citrus trees, azaleas, camellias, lavender, a bay tree, Ceonoethus, rockrose, a variety of native grasses, succulents, clematis, lilies, Iris, valerian and
olallieberries - from which Coss makes her famous olallieberry jam.

The Coss gardens are easy to spot from the adjacent Vista Valencia golf course.

"I've played golf at Vista Valencia for years and always wondered who had this beautiful garden," said
first-time tea attendee Cheryl Carlson.

After viewing the garden, the guests, who paid $50 a ticket for the privilege of attending, enjoyed a feast
of more than three dozen hand-made savory and dessert offerings. All the tasty treats were made by the small group of "Teabags."

"It's a lot of work, but we enjoy the opportunity to give back," said Coss.