Garden Tour Marketplace offers plants, prizes and surprises

FALLBROOK – Prior to visiting the spectacular garden homes on this year’s Fallbrook Garden Tour on Saturday, May 22, visitors will have a chance to buy a variety of garden plants, flowers and trees or win one of more than 25 spectacular gift baskets and other art and merchandise prizes at the Garden Tour Marketplace, sponsored by the Fallbrook Garden Club.

The Marketplace is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. through 2 p.m. Saturday at the Fallbrook Historical Society grounds, the site for ticket purchase and check-in at the sixth-annual Fallbrook Garden Tour event. This year’s tour features seven lovely homes and gardens in both Fallbrook and Bonsall.

Nine classic antique cars will also be exhibited – two at the Marketplace and one each at the seven garden homes.

Thousands of dollars of artwork, restaurant meals, garden equipment and décor, and much more have been generously donated in support of the event by Garden Club members, Sweet Sicilian Bakery, Fresh and Easy, Major Market, Northgate Market, and more than two dozen restaurants, nurseries and retailers in the Fallbrook Area.

Plants, flowers and trees for sale are provided by Fallbrook Garden Club members. All proceeds of both the Garden Tour and Marketplace go to support scholarships for local students and community projects.

Featured artists on this year’s tour include award-winning watercolorist and mixed media artist Helen Shafer Garcia and painter Elizabeth Taft, the recent winner of the “Best of Show” award at the Fallbrook Art Association’s Spring 2010 Open Juried Show of Fine Art. Linda Stryker will demonstrate the creation of gourd art, and Fallbrook Quilt Guild members Barbara Anderson, Linda Huff and Sheila Reilly will show how fine quilts are made.

California Garden Club’s “Creative Flower Arranger of the Year (2008-09)” Pauline Sechi will demonstrate the craft of succulent wreath-making.

Music will be provided by noted guitarist David McMaster at the Arena Garden in Bonsall, and by string trio performances with violinist Barbara Chahbazian, violist Lois Leyva and cellist Millie Boaz at the Chahbazian garden in Fallbrook.

The Garden Tour will run from 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 22. Tickets for the tour are $20 each or $35 for two, and are available at the Fallbrook Historical Society, which is located at 260 Rockycrest Road, starting at 8:45 a.m. on the day of the event.

For more information, call (760) 468-5842.