Press release from the Haywood County Garden Tour:
Sixteen local plein air artists, including students from Tuscola High School, will participate in the June 18th Haywood County Garden Tour by choosing a garden on the tour in which to capture the beauty they see there.
Plein air is the act of painting outdoors in order to paint the actual visual conditions seen at the time of the painting.
Visitors will be able to meet the artists while they work and ask questions about this art form.
During the tour there will be an opportunity to see how to maximize areas in our own yards to produce vegetables and flowers, to get planting tips to benefit monarch butterflies, birds and bees and other pollinators and to learn ways to propagate existing plants.
A Master Gardener will demonstrate square foot and vertical gardening at the Giving Garden at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. There will be a specially designed child-sized planting bed that may inspire parents with ideas on how to get their children involved in gardening this summer.
Visitors to a sunny garden near Balsam, will see Joe Smiley, a long time Haywood County Master Gardener, who will give a hands-on demonstration on propagation to demonstrate how gardeners can multiply their favorite flowers and shrubs.
While at the orchard and apiary, we will be able to observe grafting demonstrations with the apple trees. Also, there will be an opportunity to hear what the owners learned in “bee school.” Honey will be offered for sale.
At the garden designated as an official monarch waystation, one can learn to attract and then nourish WNC’s native species of butterfly. The goal here is to help each visitor realize that no matter the size of the yard, a gardener can help nature survive and thrive.
The garden tour will begin at the Mountain Research Station on Raccoon Road in Waynesville where ticket holders will pick up directions to the gardens. At 10:00am Kaleb Rathbone, Research Operations Manager, and his staff will give a wagon tour to see many of the studies currently pursued at the Research Station. The tour is limited to the first 50 people who sign up.
Tickets go on sale May 7 at the Whole Bloomin’ Thing festival in Frog Level in Waynesville. They can also be ordered by emailing mgtour2016@charter.net, or by calling or visiting the Cooperative Extension Center located at 589 Raccoon Road, Suite 118 in Waynesville (828-456-3575).
The Haywood County Garden Tour is presented by the NC Cooperative Extension Foundation, Haywood County Extension Center and Haywood County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers.
Proceeds from the tour support the Extension Horticulture Program and horticultural and educational projects throughout the County, including elementary school and community gardens, the plant clinic and grant programs.
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