2009 North Coast Garden Event – Garden Show, Tea & Wine Tasting
Nothing brightens up a dingy April day like a gathering of gardeners, ready to shake off that winter gloom and jump into the spring garden preparations.
My favorite way to kick off spring is the North Coast Garden Event, held in Trinidad just as the weather’s becoming nice enough to really enjoy gardening again.
(Skip to the details by clicking the links below!)
When and Where
Speakers and Schedule
Vendors
Raffle Prizes
There are some amazing vendors this year – everything from hand-crafted custom birdhouses, nature-inspired cards, and other crafts, to all the things you’ll need to get your garden going – locally grown and organic plants, soils, fertilizers, and fantastic advice from local plant growers and experts.
Bring your friends and make a party of it! There’s tea and a wine tasting, an art show, a raffle with loads of prizes, and some great speakers lined up.
In a macabre mood from the darkness of winter? Check out garden writer Amy Stewart (Flower Confidential, From the Ground Up) as she talks about the wicked side of the plant world. Want to make the most of our abundant Humboldt County rains? Stormwater management expert Linsey Payne will share the benefits of rainwater catchment systems and how you can create your own.
Inspired by the beauty found in nature? Ned Simmons, owner of Trinidad Art, has arranged a special exhibit for all of us plant-lovers. Local artists from Trinidad, and artists from the Representational Art League, a Humboldt County group, will have all kinds of garden and plant images on display. See which artists are featured here.
This event benefits two wonderful organizations, the Trinidad Civic Club and the Patrick’s Point Garden Club.
The Trinidad Civic Club helps with a number of community projects, including playing a supporting role for the construction of the new library, care of the landmark lighthouse, maintenance and upkeep of the civic club room and kitchen, as well as assisting with special needs which arise within the community.
The Patrick’s Point Garden Club works to keep up the Native Plant Garden at the Patrick’s Point State Park, including the maintenance, signs, and educational material for the garden. They also plant and maintain a number of beautiful trees in the area, including 25 ‘Kwanzan’ Flowering Cherries in 1995 (read all about the Cherry Trees here!).
Check out the details below, and leave a comment at the bottom of the page if you have any questions or further info to add about this year’s garden event.
When and Where
Speakers and Schedule
Vendors
Raffle Prizes
When and Where
The Garden Event is held Saturday April 4th from 9am to 5pm, at Trinidad Town Hall, Trinidad School, Trinidad Art (a display of local garden art), and the new Trinidad Museum (native plant garden only).
Admission is $2 for adults and $1 per child, and includes tea and cookies. There is a suggested donation of $5 for the wine tasting, which will be held outside on the patio, weather permitting.
All buildings are wheelchair accessible, and there are accessible restrooms at the town hall.
See the map of Trinidad at the Chamber of Commerce’s web site.
Speakers and Schedule
All lectures, except the museum tour, will be in the Club Room of the Town Hall. The Museum/ Native Plant Garden Tour will meet at the new museum at 12:00 (the new museum is located at 400 Main Street – park on Main Street and walk to the museum entrance to meet the group).
11am Amy Stewart – Wicked Plants – The Deliciously Dark Side of the Plant Kingdom
In her forthcoming book, Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities, Amy Stewart takes on Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, Stewart presents tales of bloodcurdling botany that will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.
Amy Stewart tends a poison garden of her own in northern California. She is the award-winning author of four books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world. Her essays and commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Garden Design, Organic Gardening, and elsewhere. She blogs over at Garden Rant with a group of opinionated gardeners, and on her own at Dirt.
12pm Ron Johnson – a Tour of the New Trinidad Museum’s Native Plant Garden (meet at 400 Main Street in front of the new museum)
Are you inspired by Humboldt County’s native plants? Don’t miss this chance for a guided tour through the new Trinidad Museum’s native plant garden. Ron, with help and advice from Jill Mefford, Virginia and Jim Waters, and Nancy Rehg, have created a beautiful native plant garden for all of us to enjoy. Ron will discuss the plants and the process of creating this lovely new garden. (Note: the Museum itself will not be open for the garden event.)
Ron Johnson is an art professor at HSU and a longtime member of the California Native Plant Society and the Trinidad Museum board of directors. He and his wife Melanie have cultivated their own native plant garden at their Trinidad home.
1pm Linsey Payne – Residential Rainwater Catchment Systems
Make the most of our Humboldt County rains by saving some of that water to use in the dryer seasons. Linsey Payne will talk about the benefits of rainwater catchment, things to watch out for, and how to design and build your own rainwater catchment system.
Linsey’s an Arcata native whose dream of becoming a steward for the environment led her to UC Davis to get her degree in Landscape Architecture, to numerous related internships, and as far afield as Parras de la Fuente, Mexico, where she built a rainwater catchment system for a day care center as part of the program. She looks forward to sharing her experience and the benefits of rain water catchment with you.
2pm Boyd Smith – Sustainable Gardening Practices
Sustainable gardening is a goal for many of us, but it can be hard to learn the techniques on our own. Boyd will help us by discussing sustainable practices such as seed collecting, products that can help, and local plant species. Boyd takes an interactive approach so be ready with your questions!
Boyd Smith is the owner of EcoGardening, a sustainable environment company. EcoGardening operates a small permaculture biodynamic farm that is a senior member of the North Coast Growers Association, and can be found at the Arcata Farmers’ Market. Boyd has lectured at Humboldt State’s Permaculture department, CCAT, local garden clubs, and other events.
3pm Jim Polly – What’s New In Apples?
Want help choosing the best apples for your garden? Jim will discuss new varieties on the market, and share his favorites for cooking, eating and cider-making.
Jim is a local fruit tree celebrity who recently retired after 34 years as an Ag teacher at McKinleyville High School. His hobby is raising apples, which he has been doing for 20 years. He currently has 100 varieties in his private orchard, and also raises trees for sale.
Vendors
Amity Rose & Heritage Roses, Tracy & Janet Sclar – Tracy and Janet will share a lovely selection of rose plants. What a great chance to talk with rose experts about selecting just the right rose for you.
California Native Plant Society – They will have a selection of native plants for sale as well as plenty of information for anyone interested in supporting wildlife by including native plants in the garden.
Community College of the Redwoods CSA Project – Ready to start your veggie garden? These students will have a variety of vegetable starts on hand and will be available to discuss their CSA program.
ECO Gardening, Boyd Smith – Boyd is one of the speakers, and he has a number of organic gardening products to share.
Eureka-Sequoia Garden Club – They have an exciting collection of plants and garden-related items.
Fickle Hill Old Rose Nursery, Cynthia Graebner – Cynthia has some spectacular roses and other plants which perform well in our moist coastal environment. Be sure to ask for her recommendations so you can get just the right rose for your garden.
Fieldbrook Nursery, Jim Polly – Jim is a wealth of information about fruit trees, and he will have a selection of fruit trees on sale. Be sure to catch Jim’s lecture on the best apples to know and grow at 3pm.
Flora Organica, Lisa Andreas & Faye Zierer – Flora Organica grows a wide variety of beautiful and unusual organic plants and cut flowers in McKinleyville. Their booth is always a cheering sight!
Forest Lake Nursery, Steven & Julia Roper – Steven and Julia will have a wide variety of high-quality and unique plants on display for purchase.
Fox Farms, Heather Colburn – Fantastic local fertilizer company carries liquid and granular fertilizers, and is the home of the famous Ocean Forest Potting Soil. Try their Big Bloom fertilizer for a boost in flowers this year!
Freya’s Garden, Lisa Bianchi - Freya’s Garden is a local supplier of quality plant starts. Get your flower and vegetable garden started with these unusual varieties.
Glenmar Heather Nursery, Maria & Tom Krenek – Whether you are a heather fanatic trying to squeeze “just one more” of these beautiful plants in your garden, or are new to the year-round color and interest these plants provide, be sure and check out our local Heather experts and take this opportunity to ask them all your heather-related questions.
Green Elbows, Camilla Tyler – Camilla will have a beautiful selection of houseplants and decorative pottery for you to peruse. Green Elbows also does plant consulting, so be sure and bring your plant questions for her to answer!
Harvest Moon Lavender, Kasha Mann – Kasha runs a lavender farm out of Willow Creek, and has delectable lavender gift items. She’ll have samples on hand of her Lavender Shortbread Cookie Mix and culinary spices, so be sure to stop by!
Humboldt District Garden Clubs – Love to garden? Want to exchange plants and information, and meet new gardening friends? Get all the info about our local garden clubs here.
Jameson Creek Nursery, Marsha Maxwell – Marsha has a wonderful variety of healthy shrubs and other plants, many of which you won’t find elsewhere.
Kellogg Garden, Duncan McNeill – Duncan always puts on a good show with the Gardner and Bloome potting soils and all-organic Dr Earth Fertilizers.
Leo’s Plants, Leonard Melendez - Leo will have a variety of locally grown vegetable plants to share. April’s a fantastic time to plant!
Milbo’s Birdhouses, Linda Miller – See her handcrafted, custom birdhouses and choose one for your garden.
Neighborhood Farms & Victory Gardens, Larry Evans and Mickey Dulas – Larry and Mickey will have beautiful living salad gardens for sale (lettuces and other edibles artfully arranged in a container), and also will be available to talk about their service of setting up and maintaining your home vegetable garden.
Norton Creek Farm, Roger Smith - April’s a great time to plant Dahlia tubers. Deer-resistant and colorful, Dahlias are a great choice for your garden.
Orchids for the People, Blaine Maynor – Tired of messing with cut flowers every week? Try a beautiful and long-lasting orchid. Locally grown with love.
Pam Van Fleet Bonsai, Pam Van Fleet – Check out Pam’s beautiful selection of Bonsai plants, and make the most of this chance to speak with an expert about how to care for your new Bonsai.
Pierson’s Garden Shop – Pierson’s will have a selection of garden supplies and plenty of gardening information for you.
Redwood Coast Ceramics, Kevin Hofer – Kevin has created his own line of gorgeous and original handmade glazed pots. They are stunning and unique, and would make a great gift for the favorite gardener in your life.
Reed’s Bees, David Reed – Our local bee expert will have flavorful Arcata honey and handmade beeswax candles. Sample each variety of his delightful honey!
Renzullo Gardens, Giacomo and Jennifer Renzullo – These fern specialists will have a variety of tree ferns and other lush, gorgeous ferns for you to peruse.
River Life Nursery, Melinda Stearns – Melinda’s fragrant Daphnes have been such a hit in previous years. Let your nose guide you to her delightful booth. She also has a selection of other beautiful plants.
Rock N Rose, Cindy Annotto-Pemberton – Cindy’s booth will have unique plants and garden-related gift ideas for you to enjoy.
Rosepond Aquatics, Doug & Patty Rose – Have you dreamed of creating your own water feature? Or maybe you just want to add some life and color to the one you have. Doug and Patti will have water-loving plants and information for you.
Nature-inspired Cards, Naomi Silvertree - What gardener wouldn’t love to receive a beautiful card in the mail to celebrate spring? If you’ve bought a gift at the garden event, be sure and stop by for a card.
Singing Tree Gardens, Don Wallace – If you are used to thinking of Rhododendrons as all looking alike, you are in for a treat! Don will be bringing a selection of Rhodies, with all different types of foliage and flowers that will knock your socks off. If you haven’t been up to Singing Tree Gardens yet, this is a great opportunity to check out the sheer variety of forms, foliage accents, and flower colors found in the Rhodie world.
Taylor Made Pottery, Lilith Taylor – You won’t want to miss Lilith’s gorgeous fabric art and handcrafted pottery planted with a unique variety of succulent plants.
Water Planet Garden Supplies/ Amhydro, Kelley or John Nicholson – Kelley and John will have plenty of information for you about Aquaculture, and may even bring some carnivorous plants!
Raffle Prizes
Amy Stewart has donated a copy of her new book, Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities, which is due out in May. If she doesn’t have an early copy for the show, she’ll bring a gift certificate to Eureka Books good for one as soon as it is released!
Harvest Moon Lavender has donated a fantastic Lavender Gift Basket, viewable here. Harvest Moon has been a venue for the Taste of Willow Creek event, and her culinary treats go beautifully with wine. Be sure and visit them at their booth!
Doug and Patti Rose of Rosepond Aquatics have donated an elegant water lily plant for your pond. Rosepond Aquatics carries a variety of pond, aquarium, and marginal plants, and also offers consulting and maintenance on ponds.
Neighborhood Farms and Victory Gardens has donated a ready-to-harvest Edible Salad Bowl. Planted with 8-10 kinds of greens, this lovely container garden would make an excellent outdoor display or a wonderful gift for the gardener in your life.
Conscious Home, the store to buy all the accessories you need for a green lifestyle, has contributed a decorative plant stake to spruce up your container planting. Conscious Home is located in the Miller Business Park near Miller Farms Nursery in McKinleyville.
Singing Tree Gardens has offered one of their field-grown, blooming Rhododendrons. Singing Tree Gardens is Humboldt’s premier source for healthy and beautiful Rhododendrons. They have a gorgeous display garden in McKinleyville where you can get inspiration for your own Rhodie plantings.
Blondie’s, the beauty shop in Arcata, has generously provided a tanning package with one-month of unlimited tanning, a tropical sarong, cool sunglasses, and Dolce Tanning Nectar. Nobody will know you’ve spent the entire winter in Humboldt after you’ve been to Blondie’s to freshen up your look.
Kevin Hofer of Redwood Coast Ceramics has offered up two prizes – a beautiful and easy to grow Japanese Maple plant, and a hand-crafted ceramic planter. Don’t miss Kevin’s booth at the show for a unique array of pottery and planters, all locally made here in Humboldt County.
Cher-Ae Hieghts Casino has generously contributed a $50.00 gift certificate for the Sunset Restaurant, which I’ve heard is a lot of fun to eat at.
Diane Sonderegger has one of her popular ceramic figures for you to win. Will it be a chicken, a pig, a bear, a dinosaur? Come to the event to see.
Amity Heritage Roses is donating a gorgeous Heuchera ‘Midnight Rose’ in a gallon pot. Heucheras are one of the stars for foliage interest here in Humboldt County, and they go great with roses and just about any other garden plant you can think of.
California Native Plant Society has donated a colorful poster for lovers of nature, called Wildflowers of the Redwood Forest.
Flora Organica, a Farmer’s Market favorite for organically-grown cut flowers and container plants, are donating locally-grown rose and lavender plants.
Kellogg Garden Products has donated a whopping 12 bags of potting soil and garden amendments and 12 assorted boxes of Dr. Earth fertilizer – a totally organic fertilizer with mycorrhizal fungi to help get your plants established quickly. This is the time to pot up container gardens and begin your spring fertilizing, so this is a timely prize!
Nilsen Company in Ferndale has provided a container of summer-blooming bulbs. This is the time to plant bulbs for lush, easy-to-grow summer cut flowers.
Pierson’s has donated a whopping $100 gift certificate! Choose your own gift from their well-stocked selection of plants, gift items, fertilizers, and more.
River Life Nursery has offered two of their wildly fragrant Daphnes, a 1 gallon Daphne odora and a 1 gallon Daphne ‘Eternal Fragrance’.
Pam Van Fleet Bonsai has donated a hand-crafted succulent bonsai plant. Be sure and check out Pam’s gorgeous display of bonsai at the event.
Forest Lakes Nursery has one of the stars of the low-maintenance garden for you to win - a beautiful dwarf conifer!
Fox Farms, the Humboldt County locals famous for their Ocean Forest Potting Soil and Big Bloom Fertilizer, has provided a number of their locally-made fertilizer and soil products:
3 bags of Ocean Forest Potting Soil; quarts of Big Bloom Fertilizer, Tiger Bloom, and Grow Big; and Bags of Happy Frog Fertilizer in Fruit and Flower, Tomato and Vegetable, Rose Food, All-Purpose, and Jump Start.
Trinidad Trading Company has a lovely decorative stepping stone imprinted with OHM to bring some Zen to your garden!
Windansea has provided two cheerful mailbox covers, one with cats and one with seashells, to help your mailbox feel like part of the garden.
North Coast Horticultural Supply in the Miller Shopping Center wants to help you get a head start on your spring planting with a seedling starting kit with a tray, cover and peat pots.
Lisa Bianchi of Freya’s Garden has generously donated a $20.00 gift certificate for Freya’s Garden. Check out their quality vegetable and flowering plant starts at the event!
Miller Farms Nursery has kindly offered a gorgeous, fully budded and ready-to-bloom Kwanzan Cherry Tree, just like the ones the Patrick’s Point Garden Club planted in Trinidad. This is a great time to plant, so be sure and swing by Miller’s soon and see what they have in stock!
A Fertile World, with stores in Eureka and Fortuna, donated a gallon bottle of Humboldt Nutrients “GROW” organic fertilizer. This would be a fantastic jump-start for your garden plants.
Living Earth Landscapes gives you the chance to win an 8” live Koi fish for your garden pond! Perk up your pond with a swimmy new friend.
Glenmar Heather has donated a copy of the book Gardening with Hardy Heathers by David Small and Ella May T. Wulff. This is a beautiful book with a thorough discussion of heather gardening and lovely color pictures. You can’t go wrong with anything published by Timber Press!
Print This Page
