PlantFest Is Coming Up!
By Yolana Murrell, Orange County Master GardenerSM volunteer
Visitors look at plants for sale during PlantFest 2025. Photo by Darlene Wells.
It’s officially fall, and like many gardeners my thoughts have finally turned back to gardening after a much-needed respite from our brutal summer. If you’re feeling the same, then the Master Gardener Volunteers of Orange County have you covered — it’s time for our Annual PlantFest!
Mark your calendars for October 10, 9:00 am-3:00 pm at Blackwood Farm Park, 1436 New Hope Church Road, and be prepared for a day of horticultural fun. Please see below for information about parking, free shuttle to and from general parking and New Hope Church Road access.
Fall is prime time for planting. New plants will have the time and space to establish strong root systems without having to produce flowers and fruit and without needing the constant watering of spring and summer. There will be a huge number of plants available at the PlantFest Plant Sale, including trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses and native perennials. There also will be a Green Thumb booth where volunteers will answer your questions about the plants on sale and help you with your selections. A detailed list of available plants can be found here. Pick up as many as you want because there will be a “check and hold” available so that you can enjoy the rest of the festival and come back for your plants at your leisure.
Plant haul! Photo by Darlene Wells.
If you are bringing the kids out, there will be loads of educational activities at the Children Explore booth including potting up live plants, making seed bombs, hands-on crafts and exploration and a scavenger hunt. Don’t put them in their best clothes though because they will have an opportunity to get their hands dirty and take something home. If they (or you) need a break from the excitement of the festival, there also will be a rest area under a tent with books and coloring available.
Coloring at the Children’s Booth. Photo by Darlene Wells.
While the other booths are not specifically geared toward children, they are welcome to come along as gardeners and soon-to-be gardeners, check out the activities and get their scavenger hunt passport stamped at designated booths. There will be free seeds given out for native plants that do well in our area as well as for cool season crops. QR codes will be available to link to more information and of course the Master Gardener Volunteers will be on hand to answer all your questions.
If you want to know even more about native plants, stop by the Ecological Gardening and Pollinator Corridor booth where you can get tips on choosing the best native plants for your garden spot, be it sun, shade or a particularly difficult area. You can also pick up a Pollinator Corridor map and learn how to attract hummingbirds, fireflies and butterflies. There will be an Inside the Hive booth for an in-depth look at honeybees (no live bees!) and an Invasive Plants booth where you can learn which plants are definitely not helpful to our pollinators and get advice on strategies to manage and remove invasive species.
Ooh, free seeds! Photo by Darlene Wells.
After picking up your seeds, head over to the Winter Sowing booth to learn how to start them outdoors in the winter with no need to take up every table surface and window inside the house. You will end up with a bunch of free plants and who doesn’t love that! At the Successful Home Gardens booth, you can pick up a soil sample kit to use at home to give your new plants and seedlings their best start and also get guidance on growing vegetables, composting, pruning and fertilizing.
Winter sowing demonstration. Photo by Darlene Wells.
Fall is also a great time to plant bulbs — volunteers at the Year-Round Bulbs booth will have lots of info for planting, care and selection of your bulbs.
After getting your planting plans sorted, go to the Tool Sharpening booth to learn how to keep your tools sharp and in good repair. You can bring two tools and are asked to return the sharpened tools to your vehicle.
Be sure to stop by the Art Sale booth to admire (and shop!) locally made arts and crafts including items like pottery, barn quilts, tea towels, ornaments and cement pumpkins for fall decorating among many, many other options. There will also be a silent auction for a quilt and a watercolor painting as well. While you are there, you can pick up our beautiful 2027 calendar, “A Pollinator Year in the Piedmont,” packed with information on native plants and ways to encourage pollinating insects in your yard.
A beautiful garden inspired quilt and decorative cement pumpkin that can be found at the Art Booth.
We hope you will come out for PlantFest on October 10 at Blackwood Farm Park to enjoy a beautiful fall day with the Master Gardener Volunteers of Orange County, learn all about best growing and ecological gardening practices and find just the right plants and art to buy for your home. All educational and children’s activities are free; proceeds from our plant and art sales are used to support our continuing work in the community.
Community booths this year include:
Cedar Ridge High School FFA with a mum sale NC Forestry Service Orange County Beekeepers Association Orange County Public Library Prescribed Burn Association TABLE White Cross Fire Department X-man ButterflyAnd if all this sounds like hungry work, Food Vendors will be on hand including:
B3 Coffee PEO Sisterhood, Chapter DB, Hillsborough (baked goods) Pelican SnoBalls Ring the Bell BBQ Taco KingGeneral Parking will be located at the park entrance, 1436 New Hope Church Road, with Disability Parking available at 4215 NC-86. A free shuttle will be available to take festival goers to and from General Parking to the event.
PLEASE NOTE regarding access to New Hope Church Road: If you are driving on westbound I-40, take Exit 266 and go north on NC Hwy 86 to New Hope Church Road, then turn left. The I-40 westbound off-ramp at Exit 263 (New Hope Church Road) will likely be closed on Oct. 10.
Hope to see you at PlantFest on October 10th at Blackwood Farm Park!
More from Master Gardener Volunteers of Orange County:
Join Us for Dig Deeper Talks This Fall!
All of this fall’s Dig Deeper talks will be on Sundays, 2-3:30 p.m., at the Orange County Public Library, 137 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC 27278. Parking is available in the garage next to the library.
18: Gardening for Pollinators in Our Changing Climate. Speaker: Danesha Seth Carley, a horticultural science professor at NC State University. She’ll talk about how to navigate the effects of warming weather on plants and pollinators. 15: The Plant Toolbox. Speaker: Scott Zona, a botanist at NC State University who oversees the North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. The Toolbox, maintained with help from Master Gardener volunteers, is the go-to resource for information about more than 4,000 plants in North Carolina and the Southeast.Have a plant or garden question? Email us at ocmgardeners@gmail.com or phone 919-245-2061 (leave message).
Visit our website: TheOrangeGardener.org.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: The Garden Buzz. Read past issues of The Buzz.
Follow us on Facebook: Our page is NC State Extension Master Gardener volunteers, Orange County.
Follow us on Instagram: @orangencmastergardeners.
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