Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 30, 1993 TAG: 9304290027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Does springtime give you the urge to dig? Do you spend your weekends elbow deep in soil rather than at cocktail parties and concerts?
Then this is the week you've been waiting for.
The historic Price House and Garden Park in downtown Blacksburg and Virginia Tech's Horticulture Club are both holding their annual spring plant sales this week.
You may think you already have a disciplined list of exactly what flowers you are going to plant and how much money you are going to spend. Wrong!
All it takes is a couple of minutes of looking at the plants under the tents at the Price House or in Tech's greenhouses to convince you that you just have to have some brilliant golden yarrow or some lavender or maybe a verbena plant or two.
Not that these are the only places that will tempt you. The New River Valley has several nurseries that are full of blooms this time of year.
The Price House and Garden Park, two blocks off Main Street at Wharton and Lee streets, will hold its Flower Festival and Plant Sale on Saturday, 8 a.m.-noon. Most of the plants for sale will be perennials.
Even if you've sworn off flowers for the rest of this spring, the grounds of this historic house are well worth a visit.
Money from the sale will help restore the house as a town museum.
The Horticulture Club's sale will begin Thursday and continue May 7 and 9 at the university's greenhouses on Washington Street. Hours will be 9-6 Thursday and May 7, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. May 9 - in time for a last-minute's Mother's Day gift.
The club will sell vegetables, annuals, perennials and hanging baskets. Proceeds are used for its service projects, such as its annual Christmas Party for underprivileged children.
If you want still more plants, spring is a great time to tour the valley's numerous nurseries and greenhouses, just to admire their displays of flowers or to walk away with flats of perennials and annuals and vegetables for your yard.
Laurel Creek Nursery on Peppers Ferry Road and the Plant Plant on U.S. 11 between Christiansburg and Radford are two favorites.
Third Day Nursery on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg also draws experienced gardeners. And some love an excuse to drive through some of Montgomery's prettiest rural landscapes to visit Thornton's Greenhouse & Nursery in Snowville.
The Flower Shoppe in Pulaski on U.S. 11 also offers a long list of perennials, annuals and roses. Vaughn's in Dublin has garden supplies, shrubs and plants. These are only a few of the nurseries worth a visit - proving how popular gardening is this time of year.
by CNB