Bright Lights Swiss chard, among the plant starts available at the Crabtree Farms sale, is an edible beet relative that's colorful enough to be grown as an ornamental. The celery-like stems come in a rainbow of colors, including red, rose, gold, yellow and cream.IF YOU GO• What: Fall Plant Sale and Festival• When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6• Where: Crabtree Farms, 1000 E. 30th St.• Admission: Free• Phone: 423-493-9155, ext. 10• Website: www.crabtreefarms.orgWORKSHOP SCHEDULE• 10 a.m. Fall Gardening Q&A with Crabtree Farms Manager Sara McIntyre• 11 a.m. Composting: Easy as Dirt with Master Gardener Bud Hines• Noon. Five-Minute Farmers Cheese with CeCe McDermott of 423 SoapsSAVE THE DATEComing up at Crabtree Farms:• Sept. 20-21: TasteBuds Farm Tour (self-paced road trip to area farms for guided tours)• Sept. 30: Community Garden Workshop at Crabtree Farms (lunch, speakers, garden tour)• Oct. 11: Farm to Table bike ride (from Crabtree to two downtown restaurants)• Nov. 1: Pumpkin Smash (fall festival with pumpkin chunkin' trebuchet)Coming up at Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center:• Sept. 12-14: 27th annual Native Plant Sale
The plant names alone should draw you in: Blue Stocking bee balm, Celeste fig, Bright Lights Swiss chard.
But there's more than merry monikers at Crabtree Farms' 12th annual Fall Plant Sale and Festival. Foremost, of course, it's a great place to shop for sustainably grown fruit, vegetable, flower and herb plants to enjoy during the upcoming growing season. You might even be surprised by how much you can produce in the garden in the cooler weather.
Plant starts available at this year's sale will include:
• Vegetables - Green Magic broccoli, Skywalker cauliflower, Red Stalk celery, Lacinato kale, Bright Lights Swiss chard.
n Fruits - two varieties of blueberries, Celeste fig, muscadine grape, goji berry.
n Herbs - aloe, St. John's wort, Asian ginger, rosemary, oregano.
n Flowers - Blue Stocking bee balm, butterfly weed, Tennessee coneflower echinacea, native prairie sage.
Several local vendors will be on-site with handcrafted goods, including bar soap from 423 Soaps, all-natural dog treats from Barley Bones, handmade jewelry and home décor from Marshall and Rose, marinades and relishes from Shuptrine's Twisted, tinctures from Fireside Botanicals and herbs from Down to Earth. Food vendors, including Pedal Pusher Coffee Cart, Rusty's Nutz and King of Pops will be selling fresh-brewed coffee, boiled and roasted peanuts, and artisan popsicles.
Friends of the Library will have tables of cooking, farming and gardening-related books for sale to benefit the Chattanooga Public Library, and volunteers from the organization will offer story time for young visitors throughout the day.
Also for kids are two yoga sessions: 1-1:30 p.m. for ages 3-6, 1:30-2 p.m. for ages 7-12.
Other products, such as Nature Safe fertilizer and worm castings, also will be available at the sale.
And you can gain valuable expertise in fall gardening, composting or cheese-making in one of three free drop-in workshops.