2018 Secret Garden Tours

Thanks to Garden Tours Chair Paula Brand for setting up another year of beautiful gardens for us to visit.  We saw many gorgeous plants, novel foliage, colorful fruits, a beautiful rain garden, and elegant stone paths.

Special thanks to our hosts, the Perrys, the Holoskis, and the Ridgeways, for sharing their gardens and even edible fruits from the vine for us to nibble while we toured — delicious and delightful!

Such a sassy group of gardeners!

We were invited to taste so we did. Delicious!

So many edibles at the Ridgeways!

Hypericum, beautiful & delicious

Beautiful border at the Perrys’

Catching stormwater never looked so good!

Admiring the Perry’s Garden

Admiring the Holoski’s serene oasis

Beautiful while Growing Food at the Ridgeways’ Garden.

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Passing Along the Gift

When local kids ask to learn about Plants and Pollinators, we gardeners get super-excited.  It’s wonderful to see the next generation of gardeners learning and planting and caring about our pollinator friends.  When Arnold Girl Scout Cadette Troop 2259 asked if we had any plants leftover from our sale, we were happy to donate over $400 worth of plants, 10 full flats, for their new Pollinator Garden at Magothy Middle School.

At their request, we also spent some time together, discussing how pollinators are indispensable to our own food supply, how to lay out their planting design, and how to enrich each planting hole with compost.

We are so pleased to support their efforts, thanks to our loyal neighbors, who came out to shop even in the rain and muck.  Your generous support made this possible — Thank you!

Cadette Troop 2259 of Arnold Maryland display the best-size spade for digging planting holes, tags that explain the mature height of their plants, and all the pollinator-friendly flowers they’ll be planting at Magothy Middle School this summer.

Cadettes hard at work, planting Sun Drops & Bee Balm — pollinator favorites!

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ will provide nectar in the autumn. Go Cadettes!

Dear readers, please stop by Magothy Middle School and see the fruits of their labor, on behalf of our pollinator friends!

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THANK YOU Supporters & Members!

MANY MANY THANKS to our loyal supporters who came out in droves to support our 2018 Plant Sale, despite the misty rain, the muddy field, and their busy schedules that included flooded basements and faltering sump pumps.  We are so grateful for your support through thick and thin!

Look at all those plants!

Our loyal neighbors came prepared for the weather

Thank you, neighbors!!!

We have sold all the milkweed and leftover plants, also thanks to our loyal supporters.

Because of your generous support this year, we were able to donate over $400 worth of plants to local Girl Scout Cadette Troop 2259, who will plant them at their new Pollinator Garden at Magothy Middle School.  At their request, we also spent some time together on delivery day, discussing how pollinators are indispensable to our own food supply, how to lay out their planting design, and how to enrich each planting hole with compost.  We are so pleased to support their efforts, thanks to our loyal customers — Thank you!

And finally, we want to say THANK YOU to our hard-working Members, who worked Friday evening through the rain and all day Saturday, smiling all the way.  You all made our sale a huge success with your hard work and positive attitude.  What an uplifting group of wonderful gardeners — Thank you Members!!!

Setting up in the field

Smiling through the rain!

Showing the Milkweed Pride with our new T-shirts!

Special thanks to Matt of Blk Ankr Industries for donating the layout and setup of our beautiful milkweed t-shirts, and to Graul’s, Blue Rooster Cafe, Dunkin Donuts, and Trader Joes for donating refreshments to feed our hard-working volunteers during their shifts.  Thanks also to Online Labels for donating our snazzy new plant labels, and to Kelco Maine for donating a wreath machine.  We’ll give it a go this December at our annual wreath-making workshop, when we make several holiday wreaths to share with other community organizations.
We are so grateful for the community support!

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