Monmouth specialty nursery Dancing Oaks Nursery is holding their annual Summer Garden Festival as a benefit for their local area charter schools. The extensive hillside garden is open for wandering and there are artists showing their wares for sale, as well. Music includes Dancing Oaks Classical Strings at 10 am; Olivia Langley at 12 noon; and Absolute Accapella at 1 pm. Delicious pies are for sale, made by the Pedee Women’s Club. There’s also a benefit silent auction on the plaza.

Dancing Oaks Nursery is about an hour and a half from downtown Portland. A trip to Dancing Oaks is close enough to do spontaneously, yet far enough from Portland that you feel like you’ve had a real escape by the time you get home. Toss in a few wineries to the trip and any wine-loving plantperson will feel they’ve had the perfect summer day! And summer is a great time to visit the nursery, as they have so many interesting plants in flower at this time… and not just roses, mind you! Specialties include Kniphofia, Agapanthus and other South African plants, as well as many kinds of Salvia, unusual shrubs, trees and vines, and even a well-curated selection of hostas.

What: Dancing Oaks Summer Garden Festival
When: Saturday July 30, 2011 from 9:30 am to 4 pm
Where: Dancing Oaks Nursery
Cost: no charge to enter the garden, wander and shop, but the event is a school fundraiser and local artists, pie-makers and and the nursery itself will have some tempting items for sale.

Contact:
Dancing Oaks Nursery
17900 Priem Rd, Monmouth, OR 97338
Phone: 503-838-6058
email: [email protected]
Note: best to follow directions from website instead of using Mapquest, which apparently can lead you on a bit of an adventure! Official blue road signs mark each turn from highway 99W.