Are you counting down to Halloween? Maybe you are trying to decide what your costume will be. Or maybe this year, you are dressing up your dog along with the other 40,695 people who got a dog during COVID and will venture out for some weekend fun. Either way, the Garden Center is open late this Friday and, if you are looking for a shopping experience that allows a costume test run, we are here for it at our spin on For Friday's Sake: Monster Mash.

Memory lane, Week 2! This image is the front of the Garden Center current day. We found ourselves needing to expand a bit into the parking area. We also had to remove some trees that were dying. My favorite part of this was having our maintenance team bring back loads and loads of Crape Myrtle limbs that were pruned in winter. Yes, sometimes we need to "Crape Murder," as Southern Living's Grumpy Gardener calls it. Sorry Mr. Grumpy Pants.

But I really wasn't that sorry. All I had to do was sketch out what I wanted and then off John went, setting posts and building a huge natural archway! He worked on this for about a week off-and-on, attaching limbs and picking the tallest ones first so he would have the longest limbs to work with and intertwining the branches for the arch. Then we had fun deciding how to make a "Welcome" sign (that has occasionally needed lifting when it starts to droop)!

But this image? Wow. I'm looking at this and really sad. Growth has it's cons and now, I may just have to create a new vision for 2023.

This throwback has to be a 2013 time frame. First of all, the two large trees in the image are no longer there and the fence has been adjusted. I do believe the entrance is in a similar spot. Does anyone remember this? We have so many newcomers to the area that they never would have seen this. I'm sure our long-term customers remember. We have such fond memories of this season! Sigh ... one customer visited a couple weeks ago from out of town. She had not been back in over 10 years. She was floored to say the least, and that makes it all worth while. We love surprises!

Another old memory was a car driving between the fence posts and getting as close as they could to the white house. They literally drove their car right up into the garden. This has actually happened several times. We chuckled and said, "They must not understand personal space." In the end, we didn't care. We just enjoyed helping them get what they needed and not having to carry the plants nearly as far!

There's a silver lining in every situation. You just have to look for it. Our silver lining is we are loving the cool weather AND counting down to flipping the space for live Christmas trees, wreaths, and all things red and green! PSA: It's coming whether you like it or not!

The frost date will be here in the blink of an eye! Don't wait any longer to get your plants in the ground before it gets too cold.

This week we are putting our rose bushes on sale so you can enjoy more roses this spring! Knockout Roses are disease-resistant and relatively easy to grow. They do require some pruning but it's easy to get the hang of it!

Stop by this weekend and take three home with you for the price of two!

Fee is $35/person, includes honey samples

Food Truck: Tha Birdman 919

Live Music by: Michael Daughtry & The Drift

Admission is FREE, so bring your ghoulfriends, werewolves, mummies, and vampires and enjoy the evening at THE MONSTER MASH!

Food Truck: Tacos Garcia

Live Music by: Heather Sarona (12PM-3PM)

Vendors at this event will be: Big Cakes Little Cakes and Drops of Color by Erin.

Special guest: Tricky Faces Face Painting (12PM-3PM)

With CASual Art Works

We are excited to team up with the ladies at CASual Art Works to bring you a sign crafting workshop!

Fee is $50/person, includes all necessary materials and supplies, a mimosa, and light snacks.

Can you hear the distant jingle? Do you see holiday items hitting the store shelves? We are so excited because Christmas and the holiday season are coming! We wanted to remind you we have Wreath Making Workshops in November and December!

We will also be offering a limited number of private workshops to those who want to attend with a larger group of friends! These workshops will be for 12 participants (no more, no less) and we would love to help make the season more magical for your group this year!

If you are interested in claiming a private workshop spot, please CLICK HERE to get in touch with our events team!

Open workshop dates will be released tomorrow, October 14! Check out our website for more information.

CLICK HERE to see the full job descriptions and apply!

Painting or carving your FGS pumpkins? Make sure to tag us on your social media posts so we can see your works of art!

If you love us as much as we love you, could you take the time to leave us a review? We would really appreciate it. If you can't leave us a great review, please let us know why. We love your feedback! THANK YOU!

We post daily to Instagram @fgsdurham (Garden Center) and @fgslandscapes (Landscape and Lawn Maintenance) and Facebook to keep you up to speed with the latest information about what we're up to, what's in stock, or all the fun we're having!