Fall Festival 2010

Saturday, October 2, 2010

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free and open to the public

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Spend an educational and fun filled day at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts on Saturday, October 2nd from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Learn new techniques that will help you to hone your gardening skills and improve the look and care of your own garden this fall and in the year to come. A variety of garden professional will share their knowledge and tools of the trade with you through workshops, hands-on activities, garden talks and demonstrations.

Learn how and when to divide perennials and prune shrubs, compost, propagate tender perennials, select trees for the landscape and put the garden to bed for the winter. Experience the fine art of building a thyme bench, add a circular grove of trees to the landscape, and designing and planting a hosta garden. There will also be workshops on perennials and shrubs for fall and winter interest and making garden gifts.

The nursery also has more than 10 acres of daylilies and Siberian and Japanese Iris in the field. Some of the late blooming daylilies will still be in bloom at the end of September. Tranquil Lake Nursery offers a diverse selection of perennials, herbs, shrubs, grasses and tender perennials. Bring a picnic lunch; we'll provide the drinks. For more information or a schedule, call the nursery at (508) 252-4002.

Bring a picnic lunch; we'll provide the drinks.

Lectures and Demonstration Schedule

10:00 a.m. “Plants for Grove filled with Shrubs, Perennials and More”

Learn the value of a planted grove in landscape design. Warren Leach, garden designer and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery, will offer his thoughts on the virtues of a densely planted grove of trees, telling you about how he has used these tree groupings successfully to produce a variety of ornamental and functional benefits in the landscape. He will also offer a diverse selection of “Plants for Groves Filled with Shrubs, Perennials and More” that are ideally suited for close groupings and many companions that will complement your new grove in the landscape.

11:00 a.m. “Planting a Circular Bosque”

We are making a new hosta display garden at Tranquil Lake Nursery and the focal entrance will be a circular grove planting of Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana ‘Henry Hicks’) and Golden Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Ogon’).Join horticulturist and recent URI graduate Andy Balon from the landscape team at Tranquil Lake Nursery as he shows you how to design the space and layout the circular grove. He will demonstrate proper planting technique for the trees, including proper size and shape of the planting hole, soil preparation and handling of root balls and container grown trees.

11:30 a.m. “Getting Started with Composting”

The secret to every great garden is the soil. No matter what the soil type and texture, it will benefit from the addition of organic matter such as compost. Karen Kullas of Berkley, Massachusetts has been a DEP Certified Home Composter since 1994. She will take you step-by-step through the steps for “Getting Started with Composting” in her demonstration. Learn how easy and inexpensive it is for you to convert your kitchen and yard wastes to a valuable soil amendment as you reduce the amount of natural materials that you send our with the trash.

12 noon “Propagating and Overwintering Tender Perennials and Annuals.”

Gilbert Moore has been gardening at his home in Slatersville, Rhode Island for nearly half a century. He will walk you through the gardens at Tranquil Lake Nursery offering tips for over-wintering annuals and tender perennials, as he shows you how to take cuttings and bring plants indoors, during his demonstration "Propagating and Saving Tender Perennials and Annuals." Participants will have the opportunity to take their own cuttings to root at home.

12:30 p.m. “Gifts from the Garden”

Debi Hogan will use a variety of garden flowers, herbs, grasses, foliage and other collected material in her demonstration "Gifts from the Garden." She’ll show you how to create several quick and easy gifts that will make an ideal for a hostess present, home decoration or children’s activity. Debi is an award-winning flower arranger who has been making wreaths and arrangements of garden flowers and natural materials for more than 25 years.

1:00 p.m. “Planting the Shade Garden”

Early fall is an ideal time to plan and plant a new garden. Newly planted perennials, shrubs and trees will have plenty of time to establish a healthy root season, while the cooler temperatures reduce potential for stress and dehydration. The newest garden at Tranquil Lake Nursery is a Hosta Garden that will be on display when the American Hosta Society visit the nursery in June 2011 as part of their National Convention. This garden will be located adjacent to long-established Hosta under the spreading limbs of a swamp white oak by the pond. Horticulturists Warren Leach and Andy Balon will review the design and layout as they begin "Planting the Shade Garden", accompanying the hosta and other shady loving perennials with shrubs and evergreen such as boxwood.

1:30 p.m. “Combining Perennials, Shrubs, Vines and Ground Covers in the Mixed Border”

Warren Leach, garden designer and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery will offer a garden talk on "Combining Perennials, Shrubs, Vines and Groundcovers in the Mixed Border.” Tranquil Lake Nursery is known for its diverse display gardens planted in an artful array of colorful woody trees and shrubs accompanied by grasses, perennials, annual and even tropicals. Warren will focus on plant combinations that have beauty all year. Learn how to combine flowers, fall foliage and colorful twigs and fruits to brighten your landscape. Early fall is a excellent time to plant.

2:00 p.m. "Propagating and Overwintering Tender Perennials and Annuals”

Gilbert Moore, will repeat his popular interactive demonstration "Propagating and Saving Tender Perennials and Annuals." He will again walk visitors through the gardens offering tips for over-wintering annuals and tender perennials, as he shows them how to take cuttings and bring plants indoors. Participants will have the opportunity to take their own cuttings to root at home.

2:30 p.m. "Constructing a Bench Planted With Thyme”

The Thyme Bench is a romantic garden whim, that offers a fragrant pause. A thyme bench was constructed at Tranquil Lake Nursery more than twelve years ago and has become a favorite place to sit in the shade while smelling the scents of the soft thyme along with the chamomile underfoot and heliotropes that wafts from above. The original woven twig fence that supports the seat is now in need of reconstruction and the plants require rejuvenation. Horticulturist Andy Balon will demonstrate the thyme seat construction using with steel angle iron and wood as well as cultural needs for the thyme in his demonstration “Constructing a Bench Planted With Thyme.”

3:00 p.m. “Dividing Perennials, Fall Garden Chores and Other Tasks to Prepare for Winter

Philip Boucher, co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery will take you step-by-step through the techniques for "Dividing Perennials, Garden Chores and Other Fall Garden Tasks to Prepare for Winter Ahead." This is a terrific opportunity to increase the number of plants in your garden while also improving the vigor and bloom of your plants, as you learn how to divide established clumps of Hosta, Iris, daylilies and many other perennials. Then learn some fall gardening practices for good garden hygiene, pest control, culture and beauty. You will learn what to cut back and when, how to compost, what plants to leave standing for winter interest, mulching and more. You will also learn how to prune, which plants to protect from winter cold, how to overwinter containers and clean up the garden for winter.

Plan to spend the whole day and learn how to improve the look of your garden this autumn, while you also get ready for the winter ahead and the spring to follow. You will also have the opportunity to wander among the gardens at Tranquil Lake Nursery, where you will see a diverse variety of perennials, grasses, shrubs and vines with late season interest. The gardens include a number of perennial borders, mixed perennial and shrub gardens, an ornamental vegetable garden, a thyme bench, container herb garden, an entry garden, an ornamental grass garden, a purple garden designed to attract hummingbirds, spectacular container plantings brimming with annuals and perennials, a pond-side water garden, a bog garden, a pool with a water rill, a dry-scree garden and a new reservoir garden with a stone wall that overflows to a drip fountain. All plants discussed during the day will be available for sale.