OOPS! Had a crazy hailstorm, and the garden’s topsy-turvy. But with a little help from my friends, I’ve got an action-packed, improvised “Open Day” on tap instead for Saturday June 1, anyhow, from 9 AM to 1 PM, at the nearby church here in Copake Falls, New York (with three unscathed nearby Garden Conservancy gardens open, too). Get details, directions and free lecture tickets (UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING — WALK-INS WELCOME; we have room in each lecture for you, so come join us):
the details
WE’LL BE SET UP Saturday just down the road apiece from my house, at the historic Church of St. John in the Wilderness, 261 Route 344, Copake Falls, New York. Again: 9 AM-1 PM.
- Free lectures (get your tickets now!) on designing with great foliage plants and more
- Giant rare plant sale by Broken Arrow Nursery (one of our lecturers will be their Adam Wheeler, on designing with great foliage plants)
- Free vegetable-garden and seed-saving clinic—expert advice and demos by Hudson Valley Seed Library’s Ken Greene
- Free rare vintage seed ephemera display
- 3 hail-free nearby Garden Conservancy gardens open from 10-4!
- Directions to all the gardens, so you can map a route and make a day of it! from 10-4!
All the best to you for your open garden day on Saturday…
It’s too bad that the opening to my solo show at Spencertown Academy Arts Center is the same day though. It would have been nice to see you at the opening reception, 4 – 6pm. I hope some weekend during June that you are driving down Route 203, you’ll stop in to see my show, “Beauty and the Feast.”
Cheers!
I was so happy to see that you are going to be at Spencertown, Ellen. Lots of gardeners will be roaming these hills that day so it should be a good turnout!
Hi Margaret, hoping to get to your place Saturday. I have a question about dealing with my grass infested brick patio. I hate having to spend time pulling nasty grass & weeds from between my bricks–it’s totally out of control. I’ve almost finished the latest round of this, and wondering if there is anything I can do to keep from having to do this again this year.
Thanks!,
B
Hi, B. Docktor. Don’t come here (to house), come to the St. John church…for plant sale and free lectures and so on. Lots of experts on hand to answer questions. The short answer, no. The key is to weed early and often before things get a foothold. I like the Japanese knife called a hori-hori for this (digging stuff from the cracks) or an old bread knife that’s no longer used in the kitchen.
Margaret,
I am looking forward to seeing your beautiful garden. where are the plants being sold at the church or your driveway at 9am?
Thanks, Debbie
Hi, Debbie. The garden is too damaged/messy to be open, but everything will be at the church — including free lectures — starting at 9 AM.
SO sorry to hear that! Hope your garden recovers quickly.
Hi Margaret,
I hope that your day at the church went well. Wasn’t it hot? My opening reception at Spencertown Academy had a nice turnout despite the heat, by the way. I hope if you are in the area some weekend this month, that you’ll stop in to see the show. Have a beautiful day in your garden Margaret. Today’s weather is perfect.
I was sorry to hear about your garden but loved your slide talk. Thank you for pulling this together so quickly and so well! full of wisdom and inspiration.
I’ve been meaning to tell you this since I got back home from your June 1st “Plan B Open Garden Day.” I had to leave pretty early to get up there by 9am, so I didn’t get a chance to start the day as I usually do with the day’s reading from Rumi, “A Year With Rumi, Daily Readings.” But when I returned home I read this poem for the day of June 1st, “The Flower’s Eye:”
“Find me near the flower’s eye
that takes in provocation
and begins to grow.”
I’d say that one had your name on it, Margaret!
Thanks for a wonderful day,
-Alana, Stockholm, NJ
So kind of you to send that, Alana. Beautiful! Glad you made it to the Plan B event. It was sweet to see everyone even in that crazy heat!
I was delighted to make it to 2 of the Open Gardens on June 1 – both were stunning, and I am planning to do more of them this summer. I did not get a chance to ask the host(s) at Peter Bevacqua and Stephen King’s gardens as they were very busy chatting with acquaintances while we were there, but I am very interested to know what variety of Allium they had planted at the entrance near the driveway; it looks like fireworks exploding and I would say had to be at least a foot across. If you are not able to say perhaps you could forward my question to them? I thought they were very striking.
Many many thanks to you for promoting the Open Garden Days – I would not have known about them otherwise, I am quite sure.