okaleaf-hydrangea-quercifoliaWHAT ARE YOU DOING SATURDAY? said my friend Bob the other day. Want to do a workshop on fall and beyond: on getting the garden ready for the offseason, overwintering tender things, planning for bulb-planting season (and for the spring to come)? Why not, I thought (another way to procrastinate from my book-writing!) and so here’s the last-minute suggestion for a Labor Day weekend attraction if you are nearby the Hudson Valley-Berkshires region:

On Saturday, September 5, just as Mercury goes retrograde again (heaven help us), Bob Hyland, Andrew Beckman and I will give a hands-on class from 11-1 at their Loomis Creek Nursery, near Hudson, NY. We’ll show you what to cut back, and not; review the basics of composting and offseason soil care; prepare to have fresh herbs on hand for the winter; teach you how to stash precious but nonhardy “investment plants” safely for the winter, make room for bulbs and lots more.

All for $5, and a phone call to reserve a spot; we have a few remaining. Loomis Creek is at (518) 851-9801. (And p.s., that’s an oakleaf hydrangea up top, H. quercifolia, in the colors that are coming up soon.)