Catching Up

We started early Friday morning, loading plants into the stake body truck borrowed from Agronomy (as well as two pickups). Off to East Farm! (it’s only a mile.)

It rained a little (of course). Two large loads in the stake body and two loads in each pick up, then we set it all up and went home. Saturday started bright and early again, with a hundred or more people lined up before the gate opened at 9 am! We talked plants nonstop all day and sold most of them. Brought the leftovers back in one pickup and now we are catching up in the Botanical Garden for Commencement this weekend!

Count Down: Plant Sale 2014

The countdown is on to Saturday, May 10th!

Come see us at the East Farm Spring Festival! The URI Botanical Gardens will be selling Annuals, Garden-dug Perennials, and vegetable seedlings. All-America selections, heirloom varieties, and more. All proceeds benefit the Botanical Gardens!

Free parking, gardening demonstrations, vendors, food, children’s activities.

Saturday May 10th, 9 am to 2 pm

East Farm Spring Festival

Where We’ve Been

Where have we been? Mostly out in the garden….

Oconee Bells, Shortia galacifolia. A rare plant from the Appalachian Mountains.

Spring is upon us and we have been raking, weeding, admiring  the plants coming up through the slowly warming soil, moving stones, cutting down trees, and edging the beds.

Ligularia dentata coming up among the Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum).

Edging is heavy work but I love the way it defines the gardens and makes them look cared for (as well as keeping the grass from creeping into the beds).

Freshly edged garden bed.

Inside the greenhouse, there are flats upon flats of seedlings. Some are for the garden, some for the All-America Selections Display, and some for the plant sale.

Seedlings in greenhouse.

We also made a few trips to the unheated overwintering house at URI’s East Farm, where perennials in pots stay for the winter. Now they are inside and coming up beautifully, ready for the garden and the plant sale.

Perennials in the greenhouse.

Solomon’s Seal, a beautiful spring perennial.

SAVE THE DATE: Plant Sale Friday May 3rd, 8AM to 2 PM, at the greenhouse on campus, then on Saturday May 11th at the East Farm Festival, 9 AM to 2 PM at URI’s East Farm.

Vegetable seedlings, All-America Selections annuals, and Garden-dug perennials!

Plant Sale 2012

The official event announcement says the URI Botanical Gardens will be selling plants at the Greenhouse on Friday May 4th, Saturday May 5th and Friday May 11th. What it doesn’t say is how many beautiful plants of all kinds will be available!

Incredible hanging baskets grown by the Greenhouse Management class, and donated to the sale. Ten, no TWELVE kinds of tomatos, not to mention basil, eggplants, leeks, parsley, cucumbers, melons and more. A limited number of seedlings from the All-America Selections, including great zinnias, a new apricot-colored Gaillardia and ornamental peppers. Perennials for shade,  from the Botanical Gardens, including Solomon’s Seal, Epimedium, and the rare native Jeffersonia (Twinleaf). More perennials: Bee Balm, Eupatorium (Joe-Pye Weed), Wood’s Aster, Sedums, beautiful Agastache (Anise Hyssop)….I could go on and on but you will have to come see for yourself!

On Saturday May 12th, we will move the sale to the URI East Farm Spring Festival. This is a big and exciting day with literally thousands of people coming to East Farm for plants, garden items like compost bins, workshops, raffles, food, and lots of fun.

Friday May 4th, Saturday May 5th, and Friday May 11th: 8 am-2 pm at the Greenhouse:      6 Greenhouse Road, Kingston, RI 02881. Directions are on our website, cels.uri.edu/uribg                                                                                                        Saturday May 12th: 10 am-2 pm at East Farm, Route 108, Kingston.  cels.uri.edu/outreach

SEE YOU AT THE GREENHOUSE!

Rain, I Don’t Mind

Nice rain over the weekend, almost 3 inches. Thank Goodness! Now things are really popping in the Botanical Gardens.

Stay tuned for a sneak preview of next week’s PLANT SALE….