By Mary Bohn
This year’s Fall Garden Festival at Point Defiance Park will be held in and around the Point Defiance Pagoda from 10 am-4 pm on Sunday, September 20, and features a variety of gardening lectures, educational displays, a garden vendor marketplace and a children’s activity.
The festival is a celebration of local, sustainable, earth-friendly gardening and creative ways to grow your own foods and flowers.
Among the highlights will be lectures on the international culture of Japanese Gardens and edible native berries. Other topics include organic pest control, growing food year-round and keeping backyard chickens.
Visitors who show their Garden Festival program will get free admission into Fort Nisqually Living History Museum to visit the Fort’s Heritage Gardens. The gardens are meant to represent the larger historic garden that was located along Sequalitchew Creek outside the palisade at the original site in today’s DuPont. Fort volunteers will be on-site throughout the event to share ideas about sustainable gardening.
The 765-acre park is a popular destination, with 3.1 million visits each year. The scenic setting provides a uniquely ideal experience for novice and expert gardeners to gain inspiration and knowledge while enjoying a variety of workshops, displays and tours.
The event is presented in partnership with Metro Parks Tacoma. While admission to the event is free, vendor fees and all funds raised will be donated to the restoration of the Japanese Gardens around the newly renovated Pagoda at Point Defiance Park. Through a special partnership with Tacoma’s sister city Kitakyushu, the Japanese Gardens within Point Defiance Park will receive an updated design plan that reflects Japanese landscaping traditions.
For more information, please visit MetroParksTacoma.org/FallGardenFest.
FALL GARDEN FESTIVAL INCLUDES:
Lecture Series
No registration necessary. Seating capacity is limited and on a first-come, first-served.
- 10 am New Developments in Organic Pest Control.
- 11 am Growing Food Year-Round in the Maritime Pacific Northwest
- 12 pm Choosing and Using Organic Soil Amendments in Gardens and Landscapes
- 1 pm Edible Native Berries of the Pacific Northwest
- 2 pm The International Culture of Japanese Gardens: Learning from Point Defiance
- 3 pm Keeping Backyard Chickens
Garden Marketplace
Plants, garden art, tools and all the goods to make your garden grow!
Garden Organizations
Learn how to get involved or find resources for all of your garden adventures.
Food Vendors
Food and beverages available for purchase from local food trucks.