It’s here! This Saturday is our first ever Plants and Pets event. But I’ve got to give credit to the people who actually had the original idea: Abby and Maddy.
I read to the girls every night before they go to bed. A decade ago, it was See Spot Run and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Then we graduated to Curious George, Berenstein Bears and The Cat in The Hat. In recent years, I’ve been able to work in some of my favorites like Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, Eragon, and The Chronicles of Narnia. At some point over the summer, I had finished reading a chapter to them and it was time for lights out. Except that’s never how kids are, is it? While I’m reading, they usually decide that it is time to write something down or color or some other activity that they’ve suddenly remembered that ‘has’ to be done.
On this particular night, before I could say goodnight, they decided they’d come up with a great idea. They wanted to dress up our cocker spaniel Pearl and bring her to the nursery so that people could pet her. I told them that I appreciated the idea, but that as much as we love Pearl, I wasn’t sure that many people would want to pet her. And even though this first idea didn’t seem like a winner, we started talking about other people bringing their pets up to Kerby’s. I ran downstairs to get my notepad (Kim wasn’t sure at this point what was going on or why reading was taking so long) and we began to brainstorm what we originally dubbed Plants and Pooches. When I presented our idea to the nursery staff, they loved it, but we changed the name to Plants and Pets to encourage pet parents of all sorts to bring their pets out. And thus, this weekend’s event was born. You’ve got Abby and Maddy to thank for the inspiration. We hope to see you and your pet(s) this Saturday from 9am to 1pm. See below for what’s going on during that time and be sure to RSVP here to let us know that you are coming.
Here is the schedule of happenings for the morning:
The only portion of the event with a specific time is the workshop that will be at 10am in our greenhouse. At the workshop, I’ll discuss pet-friendly plants for indoor spaces and how you can use some home-remedies to repel pets from plants, both indoors and outdoors.
From 9am to 1pm, we’ll have the following going on:
– A free photobooth with props for your pets and a plant-inspired background. You’ll get three poses and a printout of photos of you and your pet.
– Tikki Shaved Ice and Ice Cream will be on-site selling cold treats to help keep you cool.
In both our greenhouse and outdoor plants areas, we’ll have booths set up with information about pet-friendly plants for landscaping and indoors.
– The 20th kicks off our Annual Yard Sale. A variety of pots, garden accents, and plants are looking for a great home, so come see if something needs to be a part of your garden.
– The Humane Society and Animal Luvrs Pet Rescue will be here with information about pet adoption.
And of course, Kerby’s is open all day to help you on any aspect of your garden. We look forward to seeing you and your pets and enjoying a day of making sure they both work together.
