September 5, 2012
Start the Season Right at Philly's Fall Garden Festival
Mark Thompson READ TIME: 2 MIN.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Get the fall season started on Saturday, Sept. 22 - the first day of autumn - at the PHS Fall Garden Festival on the parade grounds of the Navy Yard.
Hosted by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the festival, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., will offer flower bulbs, plantings and trees for the fall garden, fantastic shopping, great local food and "Biergarten," harvest contests, and exciting activities for the kids.
Joining the festival for the first time will be stars of "The Chew," the hit show on 6ABC that serves up everything from cooking and home entertaining to food trends and fine dining. Co-hosts Carla Hall and Daphne Oz will be on-site with live demonstrations, Q&A sessions and giveaways.
In addition to the lively entertainment and demonstrations, the PHS Fall Garden Festival is the place to purchase plants and plan your next gardening project. The Marketplace will feature plants, tools, garden accessories, home d�cor, craft items, and keepsakes from the Philadelphia International Flower Show.
Visitors can also shop at the PHS/Meadowbrook Store for unusual varieties of succulents and tropical indoor plants, and a colorful selection of vegetables, flowers, and plants for fall. Meadowbrook Farm is PHS's acclaimed garden center in Abington Township.
Fall was meant for planting, and this autumn you can add a new tree to your property by participating in the PHS Tree Sale in support of the multi-state campaign, Plant One Million.
A variety of trees will be available for pre-order with pick-up scheduled during the Fall Garden Festival at the Navy Yard.
For more information and to pre-order trees, click here. Orders and payments must be received by PHS no later than Sept. 7.
If you've been growing an impressive selection of vegetables in your garden all summer, it's time to flaunt it! Enter harvest-time contests "Garden Giants," where growers will show off their tremendous tomatoes, portly pumpkins, and formidable fruits; and "Garden Bounty," where beautiful arrangements of fall flowers and produce are evaluated by expert judges. Winners of the popular PHS City Gardens Contest also will be announced on the festival stage.
The festival will also feature bus tours of the transformed Navy Yard, the coolest new section of the city, which includes historic buildings, docked battleships, state-of-the-art research facilities, and post-industrial landscapes - all in an environmentally sustainable community with gorgeous river views.
PHS members and anyone who joins the PHS family at the festival will be entitled to discounts throughout the event, including free plants, in addition to the year-round benefits of membership.
For more information, go to www.phsonline.org
A long-term New Yorker and a member of New York Travel Writers Association, Mark Thompson has also lived in San Francisco, Boston, Provincetown, D.C., Miami Beach and the south of France. The author of the novels WOLFCHILD and MY HAWAIIAN PENTHOUSE, he has a PhD in American Studies and is the recipient of fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Blue Mountain Center. His work has appeared in numerous publications.
