Plant Delights has open house this weekend

Wake County’s Plant Delights Nursery, home to well-known horticulturist Tony Avent, is having the second weekend of its fall open house Sept. 18-20.

You can purchase plants as well as tour the nursery’s 10-acre Juniper Level Botanic Garden with more than 22,000 plants in southern Wake County.

The open house hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 18-19 and 1-5 p.m. Sept. 20. The nursery is at 9241 Sauls Road, Raleigh.

Info: plantdelights.com

Master Gardener conference open to public

HGTV star Paul James will be the keynote speaker at the N.C. Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Association’s conference in Cary Sept. 21-22.

James, who is the star of HGTV’s “Gardening by the Yard,” will speak at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 during the conference banquet at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 201 Harrison Oaks Blvd., Cary.

The conference, which costs $50 per person, also includes vendor booths, a used gardening book sale and silent auction.

To register, contact Karen Damari at playsindirt@bellsouth.net or 919-366-9382.

Win a birding book

We have two birding books that we are giving away to a couple of lucky readers.

The first is “Birding for the Curious: The Easiest Way for Anyone to Explore the Incredible World of Birds,” by Nate Swick (Page Street Publishing, 2015). It is a fun beginner’s guide that covers everything from choosing the right binoculars to how to make your backyard a bird-friendly habitat.

The second book is “Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting and Family Lives of Familiar Birds,” by Laura Erickson and Marie Read (Storey Publishing, 2015). It is a photography-centered book about such birds as the mallard, blue jay, great horned owl and hummingbird.

To enter, send an email to giveaway@newsobserver.com by noon Sept. 30. Good luck!

Reminder: Gardeners of Wake Fall Garden Tour

This self-guided tour of eight gardens in Wake County will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 19 and 1-5 p.m. Sept. 20. Tickets cost $15 and are available at each garden for cash or check. Proceeds are used to fund scholarships for horticulture department students at N.C. State University.

Info: gardenersofwakecounty.org

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Plant Delights has open house this weekend."