Garden Conservancy’s Open Days this weekend

Raleigh’s JC Raulston Arboretum is sponsoring the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days, a chance to visit six private gardens, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 3 and noon-5 p.m. Oct. 4.

The event feature gardens all over Wake County. They include:

▪ The Bristol Brier garden (1109 New Castle Court, Raleigh) is a little more than half an acre and showcases foodscaping and beautiful edible plantings.

▪ Lamm Oasis (4204 Lamm Drive, Apex) offers a English cottage-style garden with several water features, an 18th-century garden shed and a gazebo. The garden also features two sequoia redwoods and towering banana trees.

▪ Arthur Garden (7624 Troy Stone Drive, Fuquay-Varina) is a 1-acre former tobacco field that demonstrates how to create a beautiful herb and vegetable garden without running afoul of homeowners association rules.

▪ Fuquay Mineral Springs Inn and Garden (333 S. Main St., Fuquay-Varina) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

▪ Weston Farms & Lakeview Daylily Farm (1000 Benson Road, Garner) boasts one of the largest collections of cultivated bald cypress in the world and is home to one of the largest daylily farms in the Southeastern United States with more than 1,500 cultivars.

▪ Southern Secrets (1012 Bass Lake Road, Holly Springs) is a shade garden with many moss varieties, a water feature, organic plantings and many edibles.

Admission is $7 per garden. Individual tickets and ticket books will be available at each garden during the event.

One note: The Raleigh arboretum (4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh) is also part of the tour, although offering free admission. It features a rooftop garden, perennial and geophyte borders, annual color trials garden, Japanese garden, rose garden, white garden and much more.

Info: nando.com/gardenconservancy, 919-513-7457.

Reminder: A plant giveaway and a plant sale

The JC Raulston Arboretum will give away thousands of plants, including rare ones, for free at their annual plant distribution at 9 a.m. Oct. 3.

The event is quite something to see. The plants up for grabs are set out in a field. At 9 a.m. sharp, everyone lines up near the plants they hope to take home, a horn blares and everyone dashes to grab a couple of plants. The procedure repeats several more times until all the plants are gone.

This event is only open to members, but you can become a member on-site; just be sure to get there early enough. Individual membership costs $50 and gets one person into the plant distribution. Family memberships cost $75 and offer two admissions.

The garden is at 4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh.

Info: 919-515-3132, jcra.ncsu.edu.

The N.C. Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill is hosting its annual fall plant sale Oct. 3. The sale is open to nonmembers 9 a.m.-noon Oct. 3. The garden is at 100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill.

Info: 919-962-0522, ncbg.unc.edu

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 6:44 AM with the headline "Garden Conservancy’s Open Days this weekend."