International Garden Day is all about celebrating the fruits of your labour in your beautifully blossoming gardens. Whether you have a large, fully-established garden or a collection of potted houseplants, International Garden Day is all about basking in the beauty of the natural world. This October, House & Garden SA is hosting a celebration in spirit of International Garden Day at Vergelegen in Somerset West. Join us for day filled with music, wine, and picnic nibbles in one of the Western Cape’s most celebrated gardens. In the meantime, here are a few of our favourite ways to celebrate and enjoy time in beautiful gardens.
Host sundowners in your garden
Picture this: It is late afternoon, and the day is approaching golden hour where everything starts to glow with a warm hue. The sun is shining down with a gentle warmth and you are surrounded by friends and flourishing trees and flowering bushes. Hosting summer sundowners in October is a great time to infuse garden goodness into every element of the garden theme. You can serve garden-botanical-inspired cocktails and mocktails; invite guests to bring flowers from their own garden to build bouquets, or build flower crowns using plants from your garden.
Cook Delicious Meals Using Veggie Garden ingredients
Vegetable Gardens are one of the most rewarding kind of gardening that can fuel not only a garden passion, but nourishes your body. What’s more rewarding than cooking delicious meals using ingredients that you grew and cultivated from planting seeds to harvesting the fresh vegetable? If your vegetable garden has grown a few small ingredients, incorporate them with other fresh, store-bought ingredients. If you have more ingredients than you expected, then invite friends over to try your tasty fruit, vegetables, or herbs. You can even gift ingredients that you grew yourself to friends, family, and neighbours.
Some of the easiest vegetables and herbs to grow (even if you have limited space at home), includes basil and rosemary, tomatoes, zuchini, peas, and dark leafy greens like cabbage and kale. Here are some of our favourite vegetable-rich recipes to incorporate your home-grown ingredients.
Party with Your Houseplants
Indoor plants collections deserve just as much of a celebration as larger, outdoor gardens. Indoor plants are a unique style of home garden that requires an eye for plants’ reactions to indoor elements like air quality, sun exposure, and watering. Indoor plants are also an extension of your home’s aesthetic, like large and leafy plants, hardy succulents, or small and delicate bonsais. Celebrate your indoor garden in a way that is specific to your indoor plant world like playing music to help your plants grow, like the famous ‘Plantasia’ album. You can also invite friends over for a plant swap where you bring cuttings from other plants to swap and cultivate at home.
Pack a Picnic in the garden
Picnics are a unique dining experience in that they can only really be enjoyed in an outdoor setting, (think about it, have you ever had an indoor picnic?). Public spaces like parks, botanical gardens, and public gardens are a great setting for an International Garden Day celebration if you don’t have a large garden at home. Grab your gingham picnic blankets, pack the wicker basket with fresh fruits, cheeses, and crackers, and invite your friends to join you for a picnic in the park to celebrate Garden Day. To elevate your International Garden Day celebration, bring your favourite vessel to pick flowers and build a bespoke bouqet to take home.
