During our evening event here on the 8th, both Mike Darcy from KXL and Kym Pokorny from the Oregonian fairly gushed about their love for crape myrtles  (Lagerstroemia indica) – Kym was impressed they are tough enough to live in an area of her garden where she can’t get much else to grow, and Mike loves their year-round interest.  You will find lots of good reasons to include one or two in your garden this year, as they:

• do very well in dry sites, once they are established
• thrive in containers, allowing you to move them to different locations of your garden
• have attractive bark, which makes for an interesting focal point in the winter, when the leaves have fallen
• have multiple trunks, particularly nice when they are pruned up so as to show them off
• can be trained espalier-fashion against a wall or fence
• are usually less than 25 feet tall, so are perfect for understory plantings or a focal point in a small garden
• provide a profusion of summer blossoms
• will usually bloom for 4 weeks or longer

What’s not to love about all that?!

Each summer, we host one or two special evening events here at the store.  Long summer evenings are an enchanting time to be here – the color, textures and fragrances seem enhanced by the vast sunset overhead.  It is quite magical.  This year’s event is a repeat benefit for P.E.O., a non-profit which provides much-needed scholarships to women.  All proceeds will go toward that mission, as well as a portion of the evening’s sales.

This event features television and KLX Radio garden guru Mike Darcy, who will again entertain while sharing some of his favorite gardening tips.  There will be a silent auction full of items large and small, including several container gardens donated by Farmington Gardens.  Wild Currant Catering is providing the scrumptious food to nosh on, and Barefoot Winery will be here sharing their vintages.  Of course, we will have special shopping opportunities throughout the evening as well. 

Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door.  To purchase your tickets, call 503-292-2144, or email the PEO at peo@ptak.org.  (Note:  We are not handling pre-sales here at the store.) 

We hope to see you here – it is a fun evening!