16th Annual Garden Party at Colonial Park

The Somerset County Park Commission Horticulture Department invites the public to the 16th annual “Garden Party” featuring garden lectures; music, specialty plants, perennials, and garden sculptures for sale by Daisy Garden Center & Sculpture; and Steven Kristoph Nursery. Complimentary refreshments and light snacks will be available.

The Garden Party will be held in the Perennial Garden at the Colonial Park Gardens, Parking Lot F, Somerset, Franklin Township, on Saturday, July 18, 2015 from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $3 per adult and $1 per senior or child.

The schedule for the afternoon is as follows:

11:30 to 12:15pm “10 ORNAMENTALS YOU MAY BE MISSING”
Lecture by Pegi Ballister-Howells, gardening columnist,
author, and host of WCTC 1450 AM radio’s Garden Show.

12:45 to 1:30pm GUIDED TOUR of the Perennial Garden

2:00 to 2:45pm “WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY PLANT?”
Lecture by Steven Kristoph, adjunct instructor at Rutgers University and proprietor of Steven Kristoph Nursery

3:00 pm Program ends

Rutgers Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Somerset County will be on hand to answer gardening questions.

Live classical music throughout the event will be provided by the New Jersey Youth Symphony String Quartet.
Visitors are invited to bring chairs and blankets to enjoy the music.

Sponsors include Storr Tractor Company; Four Seasons Nursery & Landscape Company; Wegmans Food Market; ShopRite of Somerset; Barton Nursery; and Friends of theSomerville Spade & Hoe Garden Club.

For information, call 732-873-2459 or the NJ Relay Service at 711 for individuals with a hearing or speech impairment.

The five-acre Perennial Garden was established in 1976 as a lilac collection, evolving over the decades into a garden that provides year-round horticultural interest. In spring, the garden comes alive with the colors and fragrances of daffodils, lilacs, daphnes, and pinks. Late spring and summer bring added color and form to the garden. Irises, peonies, roses, lilies, and coreopsis bloom among the many perennials and shrubs. In autumn, asters, ornamental grasses and butterfly bushes reach their peak bloom. Evergreens and winterberry hollies provide interest well into the winter months. Amid green lawns and beds of colorful perennials, bulbs, trees, and shrubs, lies the focal point of the garden, the gazebo.

The Perennial Garden is open daily from sunrise to sunset and is managed and maintained by the Horticulture Department of the Somerset County Park Commission.

Information on this event and other Somerset County Park Commission activities may be found on the Internet at www.somersetcountyparks.org.

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