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By Ida W. Phillips, Orange County Master Gardener℠ volunteer
Whether you’re an avid or beginning gardener, or you’re looking for a fun family outing, you don’t want to miss PlantFest 2025 on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Blackwood Farm Park.
Now in its fourth year, this year’s festival promises to be bigger and better than ever, featuring 2,000 native plants for sale, as well as music, food trucks, an art sale, and fun educational activities for both children and adults.
Master Gardener volunteers of Orange County have raised and potted more than 2,000 plants to sell at PlantFest on Oct. 11. Photo by Roger Hannah.
Hosted by the Orange County Master Gardener volunteers, this year’s event will be held at a new location. Blackwood Farm Park, between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, offers festival goers more space and ample parking, as well as an opportunity to explore the historic park’s farm buildings and trails.
Proceeds from the plant and art sale support the Master Gardener group’s community activities. PlantFest is the biggest source of funding for Orange County’s Master Gardener program, which is part of the NC State Extension. Master Gardener volunteers help community members learn about plants and gardening.
The main entrance for PlantFest will be at the south entrance of Blackwood Farm Park, near 1436 New Hope Church Road. Map courtesy of Google Maps.
How do I get there?
When you arrive at Blackwood Farm, keep an eye out for PlantFest signs and the south entrance of the park near 1440 New Hope Church Road. The New Hope Church Road entrance is 0.3 mile east of NC Hwy 86 or 0.4 mile west of Exit 263 on I-40. Volunteers will direct you to parking spots.
Disability parking will be available at the main park entrance at 4215 NC Highway 86. If you want to pick up your plants in your car after you leave PlantFest, head to that same entrance on Highway 86 for drive-through pickup.
At the welcome booth, you can find out about exhibits and activities at PlantFest. Photo by Margaret Cloud.
Welcome booth
Be sure to visit one of the welcome tables when you first walk into the park. Master Gardeners will orient you to the event, providing information about the plants being sold, how to become a Master Gardener volunteer, and tips on where activity booths are located.
Master Gardener volunteers of Orange County prepare plants for PlantFest. The plants for sale will include many beautiful native plants. Photo by Linda Bell.
PLANT SALE
This expansive plant sale is always popular among gardeners in the Triangle so be sure to get there early for the best selection! The Master Gardener volunteers have been working hard for months to grow and pot more than 2,000 plants, including many native plants.
The sale will offer perennials, shrubs, trees, ferns, grasses, and groundcovers, including some plants that are hard to find at local nurseries.
Check out our plant list here – it will be updated a couple of times before PlantFest.
A few of the plants that will be sold at PlantFest. First row: Wild pink (photo by Dr. Thomas H. Barnes, US Fish and Wildlife Service); American pawpaw (Jim Robbins CC BY-NC-ND 4.0); downy skullcap (Dan Nydick CC BY-NC 4.0). Second row: Stokes’ aster (Debbie Roos); maidenhair fern (Kerry Woods CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); scaly blazing star (MathesonT CC BY-NC 4.0).
Checkout/cashier table
If you like, you can bring a wagon or cart to hold your plants. After you select your plants, take them to one of the volunteers who will tally the total. Then take the tally slip to a cashier. You can pay with cash, check, or credit card. After you pay for the plants, you may leave them in a holding area while you get your car or wander the festival. There will be a drive-through area for plant pickups when you’re ready to leave. See a “plant-check” volunteer for that service.
EXHIBITS
Children and adults will find interesting and helpful exhibits about plants and gardening:
Successful home gardening
Volunteers will offer soil sample kits and instructions on sampling your garden or yard soil. They will also offer guidance on pruning, composting, fertilizing, and vegetable gardening, answer questions, and offer guidance for beginning and more experienced gardeners.
At PlantFest 2024, kids made and decorated butterfly wings and learned about butterflies, too. Photo by Katie Rentzke.
Children’s activities
As always, PlantFest features lots of fun and educational activities for children and young folks. The children’s area allows families a place to slow down and rest or explore and create.
Here are just a few of the many activities that will be offered:
- Learn how to pot a plant such as cilantro or snapdragon.
- Create a seed bomb to plant at home.
- Learn about insects.
- Create a bee hotel so you can attract pollinators to your garden or yard.
- Go on a scavenger hunt and collect colorful stamps.
- Rest on a blanket and read a nature book or listen to a story in English or Spanish.
A small visitor looks through a magnifying glass, helped by Master Gardener volunteer Shauna Farmer, at PlantFest 2023. Photo by Katie Rentzke.
Kids learned about soil and worms at PlantFest 2022. Photo by Katie Rentzke.
Ecological gardening
Make your garden buzz with life! At the Ecological Gardening booth, you can discover how native plants bring beauty while supporting pollinators, birds, and wildlife. Even a small space can become a thriving mini-habitat.
Volunteers will share:
- The best natives for sun, shade, and tough spots.
- Tips for attracting hummingbirds, fireflies, and butterflies.
- “Leave the Leaves” guidance for healthier soil and overwintering insects.
- A brand-new Pollinator Corridor map to connect our green spaces.
- A choice of three simple and impactful ecological pledges you can make this year.
By choosing native plants, you’ll save time, water, and money, while creating a yard that truly matters. Oaks, goldenrod, and coneflowers aren’t just pretty faces; they’re vital lifelines for endangered pollinators.
Tool sharpening
You can bring up to two hand gardening tools from home to get them sharpened. Volunteers will show you how to use whetstones, files, and diamond stones to sharpen your tools. You will also learn about safety, cleaning, maintenance, and storage. Please return your tools to your vehicle once they’re sharpened.
Community Seed Library/SeedFest
Visit this booth if you’d like to take home some free seed packets. Volunteers can help you select seeds that best suit your interests.
Invasive plants
Invasive plants pose a great threat to North Carolina’s native plants and animals. You can learn to recognize common invasive species that displace native plants and disrupt the ecosystems that depend on them. Volunteers will help explain options and strategies to manage and remove these weedy invaders.
Start seeds outside over the winter! At PlantFest, you can learn to use plastic jugs to make mini greenhouses. Photo by Mary Leonhardi.
Winter sowing
Learn how to create a mini greenhouse for germinating seeds in the winter. You can grow flowers, herbs, grasses, and cool season vegetables. Attendees will have the opportunity to create their own mini greenhouses to put outside in the winter. Sounds too good to be true, but it works!
Handmade beeswax candles will be available at the art sale. Photo by Nancy Wells.
ART SALE
Explore the whimsical art table, where you’ll find a wide array of handcrafted art pieces made and donated by Master Gardeners. The items will include beautifully woven baskets, turned wooden bowls, pottery, beeswax candles, lavender wands, dried flower bunches, barn quilts, concrete pumpkins, unique plants, used gardening books, and much more. The table will include kid-priced items so that everyone can take home something special.
Master Gardener volunteers created or donated every item, and 100% of the proceeds go directly to support the community activities of the Master Gardener group. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind collection of garden-inspired creativity!
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Visit booths to learn about our partner community organizations that have an interest in plants, nature and the environment.
FOOD TRUCKS AND MUSIC
You can enjoy delicious food offerings, from baked goods to barbecue. Vendors will offer breakfast and lunch items plus coffee and other beverages. You can also enjoy live music!
(Thanks to Master Gardener volunteers Linda Bell, Val Blettner, Ken Brockenbrough, Shirley Carroll, Sheri Gant, Joanne Gardner, Sherrie Hardy, Mitzi Johnson, Mary Leonhardi, Pascale Mittendorf, Janet Staats for contributing information for this article.)
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