It is almost summer and the busy gardeners at Innisfree Farm and Botanic Garden have been weeding and pruning and getting the gardens ready for visitors starting this weekend.
Everybody is invited to come on down to Royston and enjoy wandering in seven acres of specialty plants. Unusual medicinal trees, an apothecary garden with almost 200 medicinal plants labelled with Latin and common names and arranged by uses – herbs for the heart, the lungs, the kidneys and so on, the Douglas Senft memorial sculpture garden, the 100-foot diameter oyster shell labyrinth, the pond and more.
And after a garden walk to work up an appetite, enjoy a farmhouse lunch featuring fresh produce from the gardens, or afternoon tea with delicious tea blends served in antique china and assorted home baking. The farm shop also features fresh produce from the gardens, herbal tea blends and other herbal products and the nursery sells an array of unusual medicinal plants.
There is a free 30-45-minute guided garden tour at 2 p.m. every Saturday.
And if you still have energy after a garden walk, the farm is located at the trail head for the Royston Greenway with many miles of forest trails to explore.
Labyrinth walks
Also, keep in mind, the second in the summer series of Full Moon Labyrinth Walks, a free community event at 11 p.m. – midnight, June 20. With the glorious voice of Joanna Finch, songstress extraordinaire, to lead us in sacred song, we will walk, pray and joyfully greet the full moon rising over the trees. Come at 10.45 p.m. for a cup of hot herbal tea, going into the labyrinth 11 p.m. (it takes approximately 30 minutes to complete the walk.)
Entry to the Botanic Garden is by donation, as are the Full Moon Labyrinth Walks, with all donations going to the Gardens without Borders not-for-profit providing horticulture therapy services in the community.
For more information call 250-336-8767 or visit www.innisfreefarm.ca