The Easton Garden Club returns this Saturday morning with its annual Garden Mart on the Firehouse Green, featuring perennials, annuals, herbs and baked goods for sale to the public, open 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The event is a popular town community event when people comed together after a long winter apart to mill around the green, learn about plants, and fillup their carts and wagons with plants, just in time for Mother’s Day. The event is rain or shine. In wind or showers, gardeners and inventory are available.
Starting last fall, and especially in May and April, the club’s 50+ members have been transplanting and preparing plants from their own gardens to make them available to fellow townspeople. In this way, shoppers can be confident that the plants are suitable for conditions here in Easton, and can purchase them at affordable, friendly prices. And Master Gardeners and Composters and other long-time horticulturists and growers are available to answer questions and provide knowledgeable insight and advice.
“Garden Mart is a great community gathering event right in the middle of town, whether you are a member or a shopper. Come early if you are a shopper — many of the perennials will go quickly! We’ll be offering great plants that grow well in this area — and an abundance of knowledgeable people who love to talk about gardens, planting and flower,” said Garden Club President Susan Slagle.
A popular section of the sale are member- grown locally dug perennials. These are tried and true selections that have been successful in members’ gardens, and will include pollinator friendly and native selections.
Also available will be member- grown trees and shrubs, including White Fig trees, Brown Turkey Fig trees and lilacs. A new Garden Club member is a Naturalist and will be present to answer questions about Connecticut native plants specifically.
For the second year in a row, Garden Mart will have an “Early Spring Perennials and Ephemerals” section and “Annuals That Act Like Perennials” sections. Early spring and woodland gardens not only delight with beautiful blooms, but they provide the earliest nectar for our pollinators. They often look like “nothing special”, with their foliage and flowers since faded by the month of May. But they are real treats for any discerning gardener. These early spring blooming plants are extremely hard to find in local nurseries, if at all. The “Annuals That Act Like Perennials” are plants that happily reseed themselves and are an excellent choice because of this; the Mart will have a number of them.
In addition, Garden Mart will have plants and advice available to support our town’s efforts to be a pollinator pathway. Folks are invited to stop in at the Conservation booth to learn about the role native and pollinator-friendly plants play in our landscape. The Mart will have Pollinator friendly USDA certified organic herbs from Gilbertie’s Organics, and for those who look forward to adding a butterfly medallion yard sign to your gardens, Pollinator Pathway signs will be available for sale. This year there will be two categories of Gilbertie’s USDA Certified Organic Herbs for sale:
- Herbs that attract pollinators (butterflies, bees, birds and other pollinators), and in some cases serve as host plants for moths and butterflies.
- Culinary herbs – we are offering pre-planted herb gift containers and individual specialty herbs for sale.
This year’s Garden Mart will have longtime favorites, plus a couple of new surprises, with ideas and plants for patio containers. These containers were grown by members last summer – tried and true. And prices will be kept to what they were three years ago. All of this is perfect for Mother’s Day.
And it’s always great to supplement the plant shopping with homemade baked goods that will be available in abundance. Pies, cakes, cookies, special treats – it’s all there for your enjoyment! Ingredients are labeled; guaranteed fresh.
The Garden Mart is a staple of the late spring in Easton. It’s always fun to see the signs go up across town; the plants get lined up, priced and. labeled; and then the actual event start – complete with folks lined up with wagons and carts, poised to grab their favorites, and just waiting to hear for the announcement that “it’s now 9 o’clock and we can all start shopping!”
“I didn’t know what to expect working at the Mart last year for the first time,” said one new Garden Club member, ” but I have to say it was a blast. It’s so fun to see the town come together like this – for folks to take a bit of the bounty of Easton home with them; to bring their children to pick out plants for the mothers in their lives; and to just enjoy each other’s company. I can’t wait to do it again this Saturday!”
Founded in 1938, The Easton Garden Club is a non-profit 501(c)3 membership organization and member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut. Its purpose is to increase interest in gardening among membership and the community and to advance practical knowledge in the culture and care of plants, shrubs, trees, birds, and wildflowers. The club is concerned with open space in the community. We work to protect the environment and improve the quality of life in Easton through contributory and charitable activities. Visit our website to learn more, including our resource library and read our blog. Learn about our activities, including events, civic and conservation efforts, fundraisers, and more. And come join us!
Currently it has about 50 members who get together regularly to share knowledge, learn from each other and from experts who are invited to present to us – and the public – each month, and to be together in fun and community. The Garden Mart and the Holiday Wreath and Poinsettia Sale are its two largest fundraising event in Easton. For all details, please go to our website https://eastongardenclubofct.org.
