Mastering the Art of Fine Gardening
What a refreshing idea! It is well known that gardens thrive in the spring and early summer, but what happens or can be expected in the fall in a Lowcountry garden? Those and related questions will be answered on Oct. 17 when the Lowcountry Master Gardener Association presents its second annual educational garden tour. The emphasis is on education and even the most experienced gardener can learn something.
Eight special gardens created and tended by Master Gardeners will be open for your pleasure and edification. What is possible and how it can be accomplished will be demonstrated, and all plants will be labeled. Master Gardeners will be at each site to answer questions — and these ladies and gentlemen are fully up to the task.
Garden sites range from Palmetto Dunes to Hampton Hall. Along the way, your ticket allows access into many private plantations that may be off the beaten track for most travelers along U.S. 278. Each garden is unique, depending on the taste of its creator and the ecological and geographical factors inherent in the site. In short, something for everybody.
But there’s more. Approximately midway through the tour a gigantic plant sale will be held at Hilton Head Island High School, featuring hundreds of locally propagated plants, plus specials from The Greenery, Rahn’s Plant Folks (citrus trees are a specialty), Sea Island Savory Herbs, Daniel Payne’s Naturescapes and Grace Nursery orchids. A CD of more than 100 Lowcountry plants with an accompanying identification list will be sold for the modest price of $5. Additionally, tool sharpening will be available, which alone is worth the stop. Want more? There will also be lunch and restrooms available.
The Lowcountry Master Gardener Association is a nonprofit organization of passionate gardeners who have been trained by Laura Lee Rose, horticulture agent with the Beaufort County Extension Service (843-470-3655, ext. 124; or e-mail lrose@clemson.edu). The gardeners are very committed not only to their own private garden spaces, but to community outreach, beautification and education in the horticultural and ecological realm. They are currently involved in 24 such projects, including working with schools, the Honey Horn butterfly enclosure, Pinckney Island butterfly garden, Habitat for Humanity landscapes and Bluffton and Beaufort farmers markets, just for starters.
So come and jumpstart your fall garden with a master’s touch!
Lowcountry Master Gardener Association Garden Tour
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 17
Exhibitors: Xavier and Minda Pereira, 6 Longboat, Palmetto Dunes; Chris Rosenbach, 2 Princeton Circle, Port Royal Plantation; Joyce Flowers, 63 Wedgefield Drive, Indigo Run; Pat Rapp, 26 Hickory Forest Drive, Hilton Head Plantation; Robert Draper, 54 Crescent Plantation, The Crescent; Carolyn Adelman, 58 Crescent Plantation, The Crescent; Evelyn Baker, 47 Whiteoaks Circle, Rose Hill; Michelle Baldwin, 30 Hampstead Ave., Hampton Hall
Cost: $15 in advance; $20 day of event; tickets available at Burke’s Pharmacy, Bruno’s Nursery, The Garden Gate, The Greenery, Markel’s Gift Shop, Rahn’s Plant Folks, Sunshine Nursery and Beauty and the Beach
For more information: Call Betty Manne at 843-342-3434 or Chris Rosenbach at 843-681-2618.
