Time to thrill, fill, spill
Fall is here, and that means a festival for purchasing plants. Bring a big car and a fat wallet.
The first cool front of autumn has two effects on Baton Rouge. Residents breathe more easily; gardeners panic. A brief planting season has opened, during which greenery may be placed in the ground without being scorched beyond recognition by noon.
PlantFest!, Hilltop Arboretum’s annual native-plant sale, offers aspiring green thumbs the chance to discover what they ought to plant—and then to buy enough camellias to turn the trip home into a problem in applied geometry. Just stuff them in the trunk; they will be just fine.
At the event, there will also be tools and supplies for sustaining life in the garden, along with pottery and décor for assembling containers that “thrill, fill and spill.”
The Children’s Tent will offer hands-on fall crafts, and family activities. This year’s commemorative T-shirt features original artwork by June Gonce, a longtime Hilltop neighbor.
RedEye advice: bring your biggest car.
PlantFest! Saturday, Oct. 10, 9 a.m.–4 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 11, noon–4 p.m., at LSU Hilltop Arboretum, 11855 Highland Road. Hilltop members get their own shopping day on Wednesday, Oct. 7.