Plant and Herb Festival Saturday

The Watauga County Farmers’ Market will be celebrating Plant and Herb Festival Day this Saturday, May 10.
There will be live music by the Worthless Son-in-Laws and all the live plants and fresh herbs needed to dress up both landscape and meals.

Richard Boylan will be offering fresh garlic, oregano, chives and lovage. Susan Wright and Brent Cochran of Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery have plenty of potted parsley, basil, lavender and rosemary and the Italian heirloom tomato, Principe Borghese, which is ideal for drying right on the vine.

Jeff Thomas of Creeksong Farm will be harvesting bunches of spring onions and will have a wide variety of garden transplants to offer, including culinary herbs, tomato and lettuce plants and lots of other types of vegetable seedlings. Thomas also offers the often difficult-to-locate and wonderfully fragrant pineapple sage transplants.

Larry Denny also has a vast selection of vegetable transplants, including cucumbers and summer squash. Denny offers 15 different varieties of tomato plants, including Better Boy, Big Boy, Beefsteak and German Johnson, and also has some fine looking peonies in full bloom.

Cheryl Piracci will have a wide variety of garden ferns, as well as elderberry and rhubarb plants.

There will be plenty of ripe vegetables to choose from as well, including fresh ramps and possibly some blueberries grown by V.J. and Jon Bost. Bill Moretz will have ripe tomatoes, half runner beans, squash, cucumbers and new potatoes. Moretz also has local sourwood, summer mix and full season mix honey gathered from his own beehives.

A wide selection of crafts is offered at Watauga County Farmers’ Market, including Caron Baker (Wike)’s cobalt blue and jade green pottery, hand-built with 100-year-old lace. Caron’s bowls and platters are dishwasher and food safe, as well as being conversation pieces.

Find the Watauga County Farmers’ Market at the Horn in the West in Boone, by turning next to First Citizens Bank on N.C. 105 Extension and going to the top of the hill. For more information, call manager Karen Bauman at (828) 355-4918 or visit http://wcfm.info. The market is open rain or shine.