News and Happenings

Upcoming programs:

May 18, 2008 Special Open Guided Tour. Maybe you've visited us and/or been curious to know more about our gardens. Join us for this special guided tour by yours truly, and see all the garden areas, the cut-flower fields, the one-acre fragrance garden, the shade gardens, pond garden and the long flower border. Enjoy a delightful lunch in the garden provided by one of our favorite local Italian restaurants. Then after lunch feel free to wander on your own, or shop in our nursery and gift shop. $35 per person.

Purchase May 18th tour tickets online.

May 24, 2008 Organic Gardening Event. In 2007, we at Garden Valley made a decision not to use any chemicals in our garden areas, including the cut-rose field. We thought many of you might be interested in learning about this, so we've arranged a special event here that will cover the two most important aspects of this method. First, we'll have Will Bakx from Sonoma Compost to talk about soils, composting and the science behind good soil (it's amazingly interesting, and makes so much sense!). We use Sonoma Compost's soil products in our own fields. Following Mr. Bakx's talk we'll have lunch in the garden. If you're wondering how we eliminated spraying in our garden, we learned about the benefits of using AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea), which takes care of eliminating diseases and fertilizing. We started using a commercial version of the K.I.S. compost tea maker (which we are offering in our nursery), and saw our roses just take off! So, we've brought in the maker of these fantastic products, and he'll explain all about the making and benefit of AACT. You'll leave knowing how simple it is to have a beautiful, healthy garden. $45 per person.

Purchase May 24th tickets online.

May 25, 2008 Special one-day event with Carolyn Parker! Author of the delightful and fascinating "R is for Rose", Carolyn will be teaching us all about having roses (and other flowers) in the home, all made from flowers and foliage in your own garden. This hands-on event will be held in the historic Carriage House as well as in the garden, and everyone will learn the ins and outs of handling flowers, basic arrangement principles and just generally have a lot of fun! This will include a delicious box lunch in the garden (we have beautiful round tables with parasols), and you'll be surrounded by flowers! Truly a memorable event, not to be missed! Starts at 9:00 a.m., with a walking tour of the gardens with an eye toward choosing flowers for arrangement, looking at how the bushes grow, and demonstrating how to harvest a few flowers along the way. Also, see how roses are harvested for commercial purposes in our rose field (and even see how we process and preserve roses for shipping!). Have you ever wondered how to make a big bouquet? Carolyn will demonstrate how easy it is to make these show-stoppers for your home. During lunch, you'll get to try making smaller table centerpeices from shorter-stemmed cut roses, among other flowers. We know it's not an everyday thing to come to Garden Valley, so you'll have a chance to do some shopping for both roses, gift and home products. $85 per person. Purchase tickets online.

Stay tuned for more announcements, classes and events!