Letter from the Executive Director |
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Greetings!
This month we're dedicating the newsletter to our upcoming Budding Out Plant Sale & Festival which will be held at the Garden, rain or shine, on Saturday, March 19th from 9 am (first hour is for members only) to 4 pm.
This year's Budding Out is shaping up to be a great, if nascent, representation of the event we've envisioned from the beginning – a regional festival where people can come shop from an incredibly diverse offering of plants, art, ceramics, and other hand crafted merchandise; grab a good cup of coffee; eat delicious, healthy food prepared on site; listen to live music; see a demonstration; tour the Garden; and generally enjoy the beauty of the surroundings and each other's company.
As for the surroundings, we're very excited about the new location for the event. It's still at the Garden, obviously, but this year, we've been working hard to clear a parcel west of our pond that had become a little overgrown. The results of the brush clearing are even better than we hoped, and we can't wait to see the vendor tents nestled in among the pines, palms, and oaks of this lovely glade. You can see how it looks now in the header image of the newsletter. We can't wait to see it bustling with activity.
It's been a bit of a wait to get here; after our first Budding Out in 2019, we've had to cancel on two consecutive years, first because of Covid19, and then last year because of the impact of winter storm Uri. This year, though, the Coronavirus seems to be retreating (at least for now), and our plants are in great shape. Here is a partial list of some hard to find plants that The John Fairey Garden Nursery will be selling: Brahea moorei, Beschorneria rigida, Phlebodium pseudoaureum, Quercus glauca, Litsea japonica, Chamaedorea radicalis, Mahonia gracilis, Callicarpa acuminata, Casimiroa pringlei, Bauhinia macranthera. You can see our full nursery offering here.
We've been heartened by the response we've received from our vendors. We are grateful for their trust and we think you'll be really pleased by their offerings. You'll find a wide variety of plants which should satisfy a range of gardeners, from rare plant collectors to those just starting to get their hands dirty. I'd venture to say, though, that one doesn't have to be a gardener to enjoy the event. Our art and merchandise vendors will be selling works you won't find just anywhere, and we've carefully selected them because they do creative, quality work with subject matter we think particularly apt for our community.
We're also excited about this year's Budding Out because it represents our first time working with our fellow non-profit and neighbor, The Blackwood Educational Land Institute. Though our missions are different, our interests are very much aligned and we're thrilled that they agreed to provide food and apothecary items for our event. We hope this is just the first of many opportunities for us to work together.
We really are excited for the prospects of a great day at the Garden. We hope you'll join us.
Warm regards,
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Members Get VIP Entry and Discounts at Budding Out |
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If you're not currently a member of the Garden, save time and join online before the day of the event. Members can shop the event an hour earlier than the general public, and you'll get 15% off on all plant purchases from The John Fairey Garden Nursery. Membership also entitles you to free Open Day tours, free entry to reciprocal botanic gardens across the U.S., and other benefits. Memberships start as low as $25 for students, $35 for Seniors and Master Gardeners.
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Budding Out at a Glance
- 8 am Registration
- 9 am Doors open for members
- 10 am Doors open for general public
- 11 am First of two docent-led tours of the Garden
- 1 pm Second of two docent-led tours of the Garden
- 2 pm Talk/demonstration by the Texas Honey Queen, Marie
Yanchak, (presented by BeeWeaver)
Additionally...
Blackwood Educational Land will be serving food breakfast and lunch with food prepared on site by chef, Cade Conlon
Mescalito Coffee will be serving coffee
Yeti Sunshine will be serving naturally flavored shaved ice
Erin Rodgers will provide music from noon to 2 pm
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