Duke Gardens Fall Plant Sale preview

Clematis 'Charissima'

By Erika Zambello

It's time! Sarah P. Duke Gardens' Fall Plant Sale is coming up this Saturday, and I have seen for myself the hundreds of beautiful plants to choose from. I sat down with Jason Holmes, curator of the Doris Duke Center Gardens, to find out what we can look forward to this weekend.

Jason Holmes

"We are going to have a large selection of hellebores, day lilies, and irises," Holmes says. "Lots of blooming perennials and shrubs, a fantastic selection of camellias, numbering over 50 different cultivars, and lots of fruits, herbs and vegetables to choose from." 

Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard'

Highlighting one of the species of camellias, Holmes says, "The lovely Sasanqua that blooms this deep red is one of my personal favorites because it blooms right around the time of Christmas, and you have that wonderful red and gold flower." 

The Fall Plant Sale will also feature shrubs and trees, including many Japanese maples and flowering cherries, Holmes says. Below is a particularly red Japanese maple he showed me.

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)

Holmes is looking forward to the plant sale, and so am I. To me they really did seem to have everything, and I definitely look forward to choosing a few plants for myself!

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

The Fall Plant Sale will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013 (8 a.m. for Gardens members, and you may join on site), and it will run until noon.

For more information on the plant sale, please take a look at the following videos (1 and 2) featuring Holmes, as well as the event page on Duke Gardens' website.

Heuchera 'Berry Smoothie'

Erika Zambello is a graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment.