Garden Enthusiast Update Plus More

Fellow Backyard Nature Lovers,

It’s our ONE year anniversary on Main Street! It’s hard to believe . Over the year we’ve added lots of new products, the glow-in-the dark section and the miniature fairy garden. Year two we’re planning more products/changes/additions to add to your experience in .

Thank you for coming in, coming back, spreading the word and bringing your friends and family. We do appreciate it.

Tuesday, May 1 through Sunday, May 6 we will celebrate our anniversary with specials throughout the store: Buy any bag of Cole’s birdseed and get a free feeder (while quantities last). Tuesday, May 1 through Thursday, May 3 take 25% off any regularly priced item. Friday, May 4 through Sunday, May 6 take 20% off any regularly priced item (Offers cannot be combined and can only be redeemed once. This does not include local artist’s work.)

We’ll have a clearance section to make way for more new products. On Saturday, May 5 from 1-5 p.m. join us for refreshments including desserts from the newest member of our Main Street group – Sweet Dee’s Bakeshop.

On Sunday at 4 p.m. we’ll have a drawing for door prizes. You can fill out a ‘certificate’ anytime you are in the store during our anniversary week. You do not have to be present to win.

Your satisfaction is very important to us. Please let us know how we’re doing and how we can meet your ‘backyard nature needs’ as we grow into our second year.

SUNDAY, APRIL 29 – the inauguration of GREEN MARKET ON MAIN – Old Town Tucker’s own farmer’s market from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Main Street.

We’ll have vendors with meat, Italian cookies, bread, homemade popsicles, produce, peaches and pecans (in May)-  with more vendors coming in upcoming weeks - and more. This is a producer’s market, so we can only get what is in season. Be patient – and it will come!

In order to grow this market, we need your help. Come out this Sunday and show your support. The vendors need to see that our community will support a farmer’s market. This is what will make them come back every week and get others to participate.

To make this successful and to grow it, bring your family, your friends, your acquaintances and those you meet on the street. Talk to the vendors; let them know you’re really glad they are here and that you want them to come back. And buy something – even if it is just one item. Word is already getting out and we’re getting calls from new vendors instead of us having to go after them (even though we are still doing that, too).

Lee Tyler will be providing music off the deck of the from 12-2. We’ll have face painting and a drawing for door prizes such as Braves tickets and gift certificates from local merchants.

Main Street will be closed from Railroad Avenue to 1st Avenue from 8:30 until about 3 p.m. on Sundays for the market. Railroad Avenue will be open for through traffic.

The plant sale on April 21 went well with people asking if this was going to be a regular event. We‘re working on it and we’ll let you know…

What's New in the Store?

We will now be open at 10 a.m. on Sundays.

Garden art: yard art, fire pots, fountains, candle holders, wind chimes, flags, matmates

Tool Shed: Bamboo U Trellises

Miscellaneous: Bite Lite candles (Lemongrass and mint with citronella oil - natural mosquito repellent), t-shirts

New items from local artists: Rock Candles by Freda Wilson and Handmade one-of-a-kind Bhutan Baskets by the local Bhutanese people

Old Town Tucker Update

Tucker celebrates its 120th anniversary! You’ve stayed here or moved here for a reason – it’s the local flavor, camaraderie, small town feeling – enjoy it, embrace it, celebrate it!

Sweet Dee’s Bakeshop opens today, Thursday (around 11 a.m. or a little later – give her a little latitude on this first day!). Menu includes cupcakes, cakes, cookies, brownies, ice cream, coffee and soft drinks AND...

HOME of the DYOD

Your imagination and your palate are your only limitations. Whether you love chocolate or vanilla with lemon or cinnamon with maple - it will be just the way you like it. Choose your cake flavor, choose your filling, choose your frosting and choose your topping and/or ice cream!

Get six for the table and share your creations with friends – everyone can have a little bit of everything. Become one of their star dessert creators and make their menu board - you even get to name your dessert creation!

Who will be the first one in to get a sweet??

Hours will be: Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Friday & Saturday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Las Colinas is planning to open soon on Main Street (maybe by Cinco de Mayo?). Be ready to try out their signature dish - Molcajete (like a fajita on a stone plate with your choice of meat).

Coming events

May 12 - Tucker Day, Cruise In (Live music!)
June 9 - Cruise In
July 14 - Cruise In
July 28 - Beach Party with music and so much more
August 11 - Cruise In
September 8 - Cruise In
October 13 - Taste of Tucker
November 17 - BBQ and Bluegrass Festival
December 8 - Christmas on Main
March 2, 2013 - Chili Cook-off

Classes

These are offered especially for you – our customer. Please take advantage of them when you can.

(Note: preregistration is requested – class size is limited – call 404-474-7072 to register or for more information)

Thursday, April 26, 10:30-11:30am- Shade Grown Coffee (Pam Higginbotham)

Come explore the intricate connection between winter and summer habitats of many of our common backyard birds! From summer nesting in North America, migratory birds travel thousands of miles to winter homes in Central and South America, much of it in the overstory trees on coffee plantations. But in parts of Latin America, the canopy trees have been cut down to make “modern” sun coffee farms, meaning birds lose a home and the world loses another refuge for biological diversity.

With the encouragement of farmers’ cooperatives throughout the coffee growing regions of Latin America, many farmers are able to grow shade grown coffee as part of the organic and fair trade movements, knowing that the coffee drinking public is becoming educated about the importance of growing coffee as it is supposed to be grown. And the birds that live there year round, as well as migratory birds from North America, have habitat in which they can thrive. Drinking shade grown coffee is something that we all can do to make a difference! Donations to Atlanta Audubon Society accepted.

Sunday, May 6, first showing from 11-12:30 p.m., second showing from 1 - 2:30 p.m: Gardening for Life (Barbara Dorfman):

A highly inspirational video presentation by University of Delaware Professor, Doug Tallamy (author of Bringing Nature Home), making the case for bio diversity and use of native plants in home landscapes. You will see an amazing array of birds photographed from his window and porch and learn how you can have an impact in saving wildlife species. Presented by GA Native Plant Society, with discussion to follow. (FREE)

Saturday, June 2, 10:30 – 11:20 a.m: Birds that Like Water (Pam Higginbotham)

 **Coming Soon! (Pre-Registration is available)**

Plantings for Birds (Pam Higginbotham)-Native plantings are stressed, especially those that provide food (berries, seeds, and the like) or are habitats for insects (which draw in all of the insectivorous birds – warblers, wrens, bluebirds, vireos, etc. – to your yard).

Other Local Community Events/Opportunities

Mycology 101: Fun with Fungi (Brady Bala)

Build your own mushroom log

Community Events

HELP SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY! The Henderson Park Community Garden been chosen as one of 15 finalists for an award from DeLoach Vineyards and Organic Gardening magazine. Your votes can help them to win one of the five $4,000 awards, which they would use to purchase a greenhouse. PLEASE continue to vote (or if you haven’t yet, start). You can vote daily. Let’s work as a community to make sure they get their greenhouse. It only takes a few minutes of your time!

Simply click this link to go directly to the HPCG voting page on the DeLoach web site.  Once there, enter your email address and name, and submit your vote every day.

The Dekalb Master Gardener’s Garden Tour this Saturday, April 28, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Three gardens will be on the tour and plants from those gardens will be for sale. Tickets available at The Garden Enthusiast-Backyard Nature Station! Tickets are $10 each or 2 for $15, which covers entrance to any or all three gardens on the tour. See more details.

at the Tucker Nature Preserve across from the Wal-Mart on Lawrenceville Highway on Saturday, April 28 from 9 a.m. -12 noon. RSVP to parks@tuckercivic.org if you plan to attend.

There will be some breakfast foods and drinks. There is poison ivy so come prepared (wear protective clothing) and bring loppers, shovels, gloves, wheel barrows and water bottles. Park at the or at .

The Georgia Iris Society Iris Show will be held on Saturday, April 28 from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. with judging from 9:30 -10:30 a.m. The show, “Musical Notes”, will be held at St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church at 1790 Lavista Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329-3604. Free entry and admission.

On April 29 from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. The Georgia Iris Society will hold their Iris Sale at the Bolton Garden at 1916 Idlewood Road, Tucker, GA 30084. For more information on either of these Iris Society events contact Kathy Blackwell at 678-583-8603.

The Georgia Hosta Society proudly presents “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hostas” their twenty-third annual cut leaf show and Hosta and companion plant sale. This will be held on Saturday, May 12 at the Wesley Center of and First Street in Tucker. The cut leaf show is from 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. and the sale is from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

's 2012 Tenth Annual Garden Tour, Saturday May 19th from 9 am to 5 pm, 5 private gardens open with TAG Artists in the Gardens and the Master Gardeners Butterfly Garden at Browning Courthouse. Tickets are now available in the store. Advance tickets $10.00 each and $15.00 each on tour day.

Our newest local community garden, c, was founded in January, 2012 by the Smoke Rise Community Association. The garden is a combination of rented 4'x8' garden plots on a first come first serve basis, as well as, four donated plots for a local food pantry. Smoke Rise Community Garden is located between Mountain Creek Drive and to the left of the beginning of the commercial Pattillo properties. There is a driveway to the right of the property at the corner of Mountain Creek Drive and Hugh Howell Road. Plots are available. More information.

Birding

Oriole

         Orioles eat caterpillars, fruit, insects, spiders, and nectar.

         The “orioles” of the Americas were named after similarly-appearing birds in the “Old World”. The American orioles are more closely related to blackbirds and meadowlarks than to the family Oriolidae.

         The Oriole clutch size is 3-7 eggs. Eggs are pale grayish-white, streaked and blotched with dark lines, heaviest at large end. Incubation period is 11-14 days. Chicks fledge in 11-14 days.

Ongoing at

Wish List –add your list of what you’d love for people to give you from the store. Also, gift certificates!

Linda Karr is a founder of the Olde Town Tucker Merchants Association and the owner of The Garden Enthusiast-Backyard Nature Station