One of the groups at Cross-Pollination was the Northern California Herb Society. They had a poster about an event celebrating Herb Day 2007 (October 13, 2007). Apparently this is something that will be celebrated nationwide. Unfortunately, I don't have further details, but I thought I'd at least provide links to the groups.
NCHS doesn't have its own separate page, but it's a chapter of the Herb Society of America:
http://www.herbsociety.org/
Herb Day 2007: http://herbday.org/
Cool! That's my son's birthday. (No, his name is not Herb...)
Thanks for the head's up, spidra!
There is a web site devoted to Herb day, www.herbday.org You can also find out info by going to www.unitedplantsavers.org Hey Brigid, that's my birthday too!
Thanks, herbalbetty. I listed the herbday.org link above. Apparently the Northern California Unit of the HSA hasn't listed their event with the offical Herb Day site, but if you enlarge the picture I posted above, you can see the location and time.
And here's the website of the venue they're using:
http://www.rodgersranch.org/
Well, all good things must come forth on October 13, then!
I may be the only Texan celebrating this, but I'll check and see. It sure would be nice to have an herb festival down here.
Thanks for the heads up and links, folks! I wish I could fly to California this year...
I see that the East Coast has things going on, especially in PA and NC. The National Arboretum in Washington, DC (closest to me) is having a herb book editor there to discuss cooking and using herbs--good. I have visited the National Herb Garden before and it is lovely. I think the events in PA, though, would be worth the drive, especially the event held by the Western PA Herb Society. The lady who wrote another good book on cooking with and using herbs is going to be there to demonstrate!! That's in Pittsburgh.....
Brigidlily--Herbalbetty's link to the National Herb Day official website lists two events in Texas--one in Austin and one at a herb farm in Fredericksburg, TX. Check it out.
Hi. I went to the Herb Day at the National Arboretum on Saturday, the 13th, but missed the demonstrations. The dyering and medicinal gardens were full of plants. They gave out some free herb seeds, but not much else was going on. There was a pumpkin patch behind the herb garden where a lot of kids played. They made some herb dips for tasting, which were very good.
Did anyone else participate in any Herb Day activities?
Alas, no. :(
I did make some pesto.
Fox, some of those seeds at the arboretum might have been from me. I sent in a bunch of angelica, lovage and poppy seeds.
Hey, Herbalbetty--I only picked up 4 little packets of seeds--herbs that are ornamental. I should have gotten lovage and angelica, but since I only need one of each of those, I didn't look for the seeds. The packets were scattered on a table. I know I should have taken greater advantage of the giveaways. I got:
Salvia coccinea "Alba" Annual/white flowers
Plains coreoposis (coreopsis tinctoria)
Globe thistle (Echinops ritro)
Foxglove (Digitalis grandiflora, yellow flowers 3')
Are any of these from your gardens? Nice of you to donate seeds for this special event. There was supposed to be demonstrations going on but they must have occurred somewhere else and earlier as I didn't see anything.
The National Herb Garden had a rosemary bed that had some really nice plants in it. There was a fuzzy looking rosemary that I tried to get the name of but the name label was missing.
Next year, I am planning a "sensations" herb garden. I will find plants that have unusual visual attributes (globe thistle is one), touchy-feely foilage, and knock-out scents. I was looking for evening primrose there, but they didn't have any. Rats!
Hi Fox, nope, none of those were mine. If you want some of mine, Dmail me with your snail mail. I'm sorry that there wasn't more going on! I belong to the HSA as a member-at-large. There was quite a bit of talk that a big gala was going to happen. Seed give away, lots of food, members there to talk to others about the plants in the garden. Wonder what happened?
Spidra, thank you for the offer of seeds. I am planning to get some from a supllier that I learned of from the American Horticultural Society. The AHS published an article about evening primroses recently in their magazine "American Gardener", which I get and love to read!!
Herbalbetty--I think there good plans laid but volunteers were short and the public turnout low so it wasn't a grand-scale "gala" as you would expect. There were only two other tables besides the free seeds table and I didn't see anyone sitting at one table but one lady was sitting at the other that had the herbal cheeses for sampling. She provided informational sheets on how to make herbal cheeses. I think the other table was for showing seed collecting, explaining harvesting and uses. They may have been out showing people herbs or how to collect seeds. There was supposed to be a speaker, but that may have taken place earlier.
It was a gorgeous day and a shame not more people came to check it out, but I know the publicity wasn't big enough. I wish they had potted plants for sale or to exhibit for enticing people to grow the seeds. That might have spurred more interest. Plus, I think the time of year had a lot to do with it---it is not the time that most people know to go look at gardens. Why don't they do Herb Day in, say, May or June??
OK, Spidra. I guess I can try your variety since you went out to fetch them. That was nice of you! Check your D-mail.
