Fall has officially arrived, and with it comes the Union County Master Gardeners’ annual bulb sale, scheduled for this Saturday at the Farmers Market at the Murphy Arts District.
Barbie Luther, a Master Gardener, said the organization will be selling 26 different varieties of spring- and summer-blooming bulbs chosen specifically for their growing success in southern Arkansas. Their selection will include nine types of narcissuses, eight types of tulips, two types of hyacinths, Dutch iris, allium drumsticks, linifolia, Glory of Snow, anemone and Spanish bluebells.
“They’re mostly spring-blooming plants,” Luther said. “I think there’s one allium that grows more in the summer.”
Bulbs are a specialized group of perennial plants that generally take several months post-planting to bloom. Perennials are plants that live more than two years; often, they will bloom every year if they are cared for.
Those that purchase bulbs this weekend will want to plant them soon, Luther said, as most of them are meant to bloom in spring. Master Gardeners will be on hand at the Farmers Market Saturday to answer any questions, bulb-related or otherwise.
“We will be there to answer any type of gardening question,” Luther said. “We love to talk about the bulbs themselves and the flowers and things, but any garden-type questions we’ll try our best to answer. If not, we’ll take a person’s name and phone number and when we get the answer, get back to them.”
Money raised at the sale will help to pay for the Master Gardeners’ Dirt Friends Festival, scheduled for March 14. Typically an annual event, last year’s festival was cancelled so the organization could raise more money for this year’s.
The Master Gardeners will give away door prizes and serve refreshments at the festival; there will also be vendors and gardeners showing their plants in attendance. This year’s festival will feature speaker Norman Winter, a horticulturist and writer known to many as the ‘Southern Gardening Guru’ or ‘The Garden Guy.’
“He’ll do two sessions on two different topics,” Luther said. “We’ve communicated with him and he’s given us a list of topics. One I think may be on getting a tropical look in your garden.”
Keelan Burke, chef at the Medical Center of South Arkansas’ Café 870, is scheduled to give a cooking demonstration at the Farmers Market Saturday. The Farmers Market at MAD will close for the winter at the end of October. Their annual Holiday Market is scheduled for Dec. 7.
For more information about the Union County Master Gardeners, contact agent Robin Bridges at [email protected] or 870-864-1916 or speak to any Master Gardener.
“If people like gardening; if they like plants; if they like spending time with other people who are passionate about those things, then supporting the Master Gardeners is a good way to help us keep spreading horticulture information,” Luther concluded.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].