Events
LilyPalooza 2017
Saturday, October 28, 2017
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Loose Park Garden Center
5200 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, Missouri 64112
(located within Loose Park at 51st and Wornall)
In this our eighth annual LilyPalooza, the annual fall bulb sale presented by Gardeners Connect we have put together a collection of lilies and other buried gems we are sure you will find spectacular additions to your own garden.
LilyPalooza bulb selection goes online for sale on September 1. This year we have with 23 lilies including 3 martagons and 6 other buried gems bulbs, including daffodils, dutch iris and other selected bulbs.
In addition we are offering a selection of lilies that are exclusive to the day of sale. You will have to hit the sale early for best selection.
Once again we are teaming up Garden Faire with LilyPalooza which includes horticultural groups that are affiliated with Gardeners Connect promoting themselves and offering plants and other items for sale.
Three reasons to order online:
- Easy to order and then pick up your bulbs at Loose Park between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 28.
- Best Selection. We expect some of our bulbs, especially the martagon lilies and those in the Connoisseur Collection, to sell out, and the first ones to order and pay for their selections are most likely to get their heart’s content
- People ordering and paying online get a free bulb for every $25 in purchases. Spend $25 get 1 Bulb, spend $50 get 2 bulbs, spend $200 get 8 bulbs. You get the idea. We have selected a delectable variety named ‘Strawberry and Cream’. You will also be able to purchase ‘Strawberry and Cream’ separately as we know you will want a large group of them.
Garden U: Composting
6 to 8 p.m.
Loose Park Garden Center
5200 Pennsylvania Ave
Kansas City, Missouri 64112
Composting will be on lots of our minds this fall as we await the falling of tree leaves. Gardeners Connect has scheduled a class on composting and soil amending on Tuesday evening, Sept. 12, in the Loose Park Garden Center.
This Gardeners U class will be taught by Kathy Hoggard, a member of Gardeners Connect, a Master Gardener of Greater Kansas City and an expert on composting through study and experience.
Two lectures will be offered with a break between the sessions: “Home Composting for Gardeners” and “Amending the Soil in Kansas City Gardens.” The class will start at 6 p.m. and end by 8 p.m.
The cost for this class is $15 for Gardeners Connect members and $20 for nonmembers. This includes handouts and treats for the break. The class will be limited to 30 students.
Sign up online at Shop.GardenersConnect.org or mail a check and note with your name, phone number and brief message about wanting to enroll in the class to this address:
Gardeners U Composting Class
6911 NW Blair Road
Parkville, MO 64152.
Email questions to info@gardenersconnect.org.
This class complements the Free Speaker Series Oct. 7 lecture, “Growing Healthy Soils for Healthy, Bountiful Plants,” planned at the Discovery Center. Big lectures are nice, but it is easier to ask
questions and talk to the instructor in classes.
Paperwhite Planting Party
Saturday, November 18, 2017
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Loose Park Garden Center
5200 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, Missouri 64112
(located within Loose Park at 51st and Wornall)
$20 (Gardeners Connect Members receive a $5 discount.)
Learn a few tricks from people who for decades have celebrated the holidays by planting paperwhites, like how to keep your paperwhites from being tall and floppy.
This is a hands-on workshop with materials provided to take home a pot of paperwhites. This includes a pot, 5 bulbs and soil mix and also Gardeners Connect will provide a soup luncheon.
The cost for this event is $20 with Gardeners Connect members receiving a $5 discount. Additional pots of paperwhites and additional bulbs to plant your own containers will be available at the event.
Participants may purchase extra pots and bulbs online or at the event. You may also bring your own pots.
Sign up online above following the “Register Now” button or mail a check made out to Gardeners Connect to 6911 NW Blair Road, Parkville, MO 64152. Please include a note with the mailed check that this is for the paperwhites workshop.
Thoughtful Gifts
Paperwhites can be planted in almost any container, from ones with drainage holes like flower pots to containers without drainage holes, which are often preferred as they provide a reservoir of water to keep your plants from drying out between watering and keep any surfaces you place them on dry. All you need is 3-4 inches of depth for the roots to anchor in and keep your plants upright. Bowls, vases, even that old gravy boat you never use all make good planting containers.
Plant up paperwhites to give to family and friends as gifts. A pot will brighten anyone’s day. Even think about tailoring the planter to the recipient. A candy dish filled with bulbs for that sweet tooth you know or how about a pint beer glass from your favorite local Kansas City brewery planted with even a single bulb. We know quite a few people that would enjoy the sentiment of a crazy gardener that plants up everything.
Join us at the paperwhite planting party for homemade soup, garden banter and lots and lots of paperwhites, plant a few and let them brighten the bleak days of winter for you.
Cary Rivard: Growing Healthy Soils for Healthy, Bountiful Gardens
Part of the Gardeners Connect Free Speaker Series.
Brought to you in part by members like you. Thank you.
Saturday, October 7, 2017
10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Refreshments begin at 10 a.m.
Anita B Gorman Conservation Discovery Center
4750 Troost
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
We all know that great, bountiful, exuberant gardens start from the ground up with healthy soils full of natures goodness. Many of us foolishly skip right past in our impatience to plant something, anything for instant gratification. Then our plants languish in unhealthy soil with compaction and low nutrients. Soil that is muck when it is wet and concrete when it is dry.
Well, Cary Rivard is here to help us stop this cycle of madness and work towards healthy soils that will in the end do a lot of the heavy lifting for us and give our gardens the foundation to be beautiful, bountiful and everything we imagined they could be.
Cary Rivard is an Assistant Professor, Extension Specialist & Director of K-State Research & Extension Center in Olathe, KS. He was born and raised near Kansas City, MO where his family owns and operates a small, retail greenhouse business. It was here that he first became interested not only in propagation and greenhouse management, but also learning and teaching about plants. He received his B.S. in agricultural sciences and biology from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. Cary completed his M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at NC State University.
Gardeners Q&A: 2017 Edition
Part of the Gardeners Connect Free Speaker Series.
Brought to you in part by members like you. Thank you.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Anita B Gorman Conservation Discovery Center
4750 Troost
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
This is your chance to get your gardening questions answered and hear about all the questions gardeners like you have.
A panel of experts plan to answer our questions about gardening on Saturday, November 4. at the Discovery Center, 4750 Troost, Kansas City, MO. 64110.
The free program, presented by Gardeners Connect and open to everyone, is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium of the Discovery Center. Coffee and some treats will be served the half hour before the program in the Lewis and Clark Room. Everyone is welcome.