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17th Annual Open House & Summer Festival

Saturday, July 19, 2008

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Free and open to the public.

• Free lectures and demonstrations all day long

• 10 acres of daylilies at peak bloom and display gardens

• an exceptional collection of perennials, grasses, herbs and shrubs

• cut flowers, garden accessories, garden ornaments, herbs and heather

• daylily tasting and cool drinks

On Saturday, July 19, 2008 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts will celebrate our 17th Annual Open House & Summer Festival. Each July, people from all over New England visit the nursery to wander among the perennials, display gardens and 10 acres of daylily fields during the peak season of bloom among the more than 3,000 varieties of daylilies that the nursery offers. Tranquil Lake Nursery is the largest grower of Daylilies and Siberian and Japanese Iris in the northeastern United States. To celebrate the occasion the nursery will offer free lectures and demonstration, free daylily tasting, cool drinks and a diverse assortment of garden activities and garden vendors all day long.

This year, our theme for the Open House and Summer Festival is "Garden Magic: Gardens for Entertainment and Enjoyment." Twelve garden talks and demonstrations will be offered on the half hour throughout the day, showcasing talented local horticulturists, gardeners, and herbalists. Each will explore as aspect of creating gardens that are both bountiful and pleasing to the senses. Topics will include selecting tough but terrific plant for the sun, shade gardening, plant combinations for long season of interest, fantastic foliage, bamboo, connoisseur plants, creating sensational containers, daylilies, culinary and ornamental herbs, dividing and using flowers and herbs in recipes. There will be ample opportunity to taste daylilies and to learn about cooking with these special flowers.

Our special guest for this year's Open House and Summer Festival is Claire E. Sawyers. Claire is the Director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and is the author of a new book from Timber Press "The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating A Sense of Place"

What makes a garden "authentic"? For American gardeners, this question can be vexing. Because America is a comparatively young nation, it hasn’t had much time to develop an indigenous garden style. Gardeners have therefore tended to turn to other national traditions—such as Italy’s, Japan’s, or England’s—for inspiration. The unhappy result of this piecemeal stylistic borrowing has been the creation of gardens that bear no relationship to local landscapes and history, and that have no connection with our daily lives. Claire Sawyers shows how this tendency can be reversed: how we can create gardens that are both deeply rooted in their surroundings and deeply satisfying to their creators and owners.

Drawing on her knowledge of a vast array of American and foreign gardens, she identifies five principles that help instill a sense of authenticity:  1.) Capture the sense of place; 2.) Derive beauty from function; 3.) Use humble or indigenous materials; 4.) Marry the inside to the outside; and 5. Involve the visitor.  Practical and inspiring, The Authentic Garden will enable the reader to make a garden that is true to a specific time, place, and culture; to capture and reflect an authentic spirit so that the garden, in turn, will nurture the spirit of those who cherish and dwell in it.

CLAIRE SAWYERS has been director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College since 1990, bringing both U.S. and international perspectives to her work. She grew up on a dairy farm in Missouri and spent six years of her youth in Japan, to which she returned to work with Japanese landscapers while pursuing her undergraduate degree in ornamental horticulture at Purdue University. In addition to working in Belgium (Kalmthout Arboretum) and France (private gardens in Brittany and Normandy), Sawyers holds a master’s degree in horticulture from Purdue.

Eleven additional Workshops, demonstrations and tours will be held throughout the day.  In addition to the 3,000 varieties of daylilies and the 300 varieties each of Siberian and Japanese Iris for which Tranquil Lake Nursery is famous, the nursery also offer an exceptional collection of container grown perennials, grasses and shrubs to accompany your daylilies and Iris in the home garden. A number of other horticultural vendors have been invited to share their gardening products with you.  A number of horticulturist and garden vendors will offer products for sale and the URI Master Gardeners, will offer garden tips and advice throughout the day. Bring your garden questions and Ask a Master Gardener.

Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom, Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational resources about the importance of Massachusetts agriculture will be selling, fruit, cold gazpacho soups, hot dogs, and ice cream. All proceeds from the sale of food and a garden raffle will benefit Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom. Cool drinks are always provided free, courtesy of the Nursery. Drinks, such as lemonade, ice tea and water will be plentiful and free. Guests are also invited to bring a picnic.