By Hadley Cheris, Tryon Palace Gardens and Greenhouse Manager
April is National Gardening Month and the perfect time of year to get outside, enjoy the sunshine and get planting! We’ve had a beautiful early part of the year with warm temperatures making everything burst into color almost a month earlier than usual! Our last potential frost will pass by mid-month and it’s a great time to plant vegetables, perennials, and herbs without fear of cold damage!
One of my favorite ways to get into the garden planting mood is our Tryon Palace Spring Plant Sale! This year the sale will be Friday and Saturday, April 14 & 15 (one week later than usual), from 9am-5pm. We’ll have our tried-and-true herb and vegetable varieties, as well as ENC adapted shrubs, hanging baskets and annuals! There will be TONS of Tryon Palace grown perennial varieties that you can’t find anywhere else so come early to get your favorites. Our garden staff will be available to answer questions and help guide you on the best options for your yard. My top perennials this year are Belamcanda flabellata or Blackberry Lily “Hello Yellow”, a lovely mid-size yellow bloomer with long lasting iris-style foliage, and Stokesia laevis or Stokes Aster, a tough evergreen carpeting perennial with beautiful purple medium blooms great for pollinators! Both have been magnificent in the gardens over the last year and lasted even through our winter cold!
Don’t forget- the gardens will also be free all weekend, April 14-16, so put us on your schedule for some outdoor time! The gardens are bursting with new plants and bulbs on as daily basis this spring so come often to pick your favorites! The Wilderness offers a lovely spot to enjoy lots of naturalizing bulbs with a nice breeze and plentiful shade for those warmer days. My favorite gardens during the spring are the Stanly Garden and the Kellenberger Garden- both full of unique perennials and bulbs, like hyacinths, peonies, and Lenten roses, offering beautiful foliage, blooms and buds!
We hope to see you soon- Happy gardening!