The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Somerset County Park Commission Horticulture Department invites the public to the 17th annual “Garden Party,” featuring garden lectures and music, from 11 am. to 3 p.m. July 16. In addition, gardening books autographed by author Kerry Ann Mendez and specialty plants and sculptures by Daisy Garden will be for sale.
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. Admission is free with donations kindly accepted.
The schedule for the afternoon is as follows:
11:30 to 12:15pm ‘How to Work with a Landscape Designer To Get The Garden Of Your Dreams’
Lecture by Susan Cohan, well-known in the landscape and design communities. She is the principal of Susan Cohan Gardens and is an in-demand speaker around the country.
12:45 to 1:30 P.M. ‘Ten Valuable Tips for Thriving, Sustainable Flower
Gardens’
Lecture by Kerry Ann Mendez,
an award-winning garden designer, author, and lecturer. She has been on HGTV and in numerous magazines and has been awarded the 2014 Gold Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
2:00 P.M. Guided Tour of the Perennial Garden
3:00 P.M. 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.
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Sponsors include Storr Tractor Company; Messinas, Four Seasons Nursery & Landscape Company; Wegman’s Food Market; ShopRite of Somerset; Barton Nursery; and Sunrise Creek Deli & Grocery
For information, call 732-873-2459 ext. 21 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.
