NEW WAVERLY —
You can celebrate the Earth in your own hometown this weekend thanks to Crazywood Garden’s Noon to Midnight Earth Day event happening today on 14th Street across from the Huntsville Public Library.
Like the open house event the garden hosted earlier this month, the Earth Day event will feature a variety of free activities including gardening demonstrations, garden tours, scarecrow making and unicycling.
Founded by Crazywood Gallery owner John Smither and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers, the Crazywood Garden is a community project designed to provide gardening resources to local residents through events such as the Earth Day celebration.
“The Crazywood Garden is designed as a flourishing, sustainable organic garden, each bed deep dug so plants in them will flourish in our East Texas climate,” said Rozalynd Mansfield, a longtime volunteer at the garden. “Plants being grown include heirloom tomatoes and a range of additional vegetables and herbs, as well as unique daylilies, hibiscus, and a unique Texas mallow developed by the plant breeder Herb Durand. New introductions such as goji berries grown from seed are also being featured in the Crazywood Garden.”
In addition to the gardening activities, the Earth Day event will also include activities for children, including mask making and sculpting of fantasy creatures. Several varieties of plans will also be for sale, including rose cuttings, tomatoes, daylilies, eggplants and goji berries.
“Goji berries are getting extremely popular because of their great taste and nutritional properties,” Mansfield said. “The plants grow into large decorative bushes.”
The event will also include music and a sock hop held next door at the Crazywood Gallery.
The ultimate goal of many of the demonstrations and activities offered at the event is to grow a communitywide gardening movement with every member knowledgeable in sound gardening techniques, Mansfield said.
“The demonstrations are introductions to future fun Crazywood Garden workshops for both kids and adults,” Mansfield said. “Visitors will also have the chance to join the Community Farmers, a free organization where members meet and share gardening tips and information, swap plants, and share information about their gardening projects.
“Crazywood Garden will continue to be an educational and fun resource for the Huntsville area community, and we hope you would consider doing a feature article to let people know about it. In addition to the events listed above for April, people can contact Crazywood if they are interested in other tours during the month, and news of furture events and activities throughout the year.”