Spring Herb Festival

The 23rd annual Spring Herb Festival will take place at the WNC Farmers Market May 4, 5, and 6, 2012, bringing together the largest annual gathering of herb enthusiasts in the Southeast United States.

The festival attracts more than 25,000 herb lovers and more than sixty professional growers and retailers to Asheville each spring.

Festival hours are Friday and Saturday from 9:00 to 5:00 and Sunday
from 10:00 to 3:00. Admission and parking are free, and a free shuttle
will transport visitors and purchases between parking areas and the
Festival booths.

May is the ideal time to set out most herbs, and
the festival features such traditional herbs as basil, tarragon,
parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, and lavender. In addition, vendors offer
new varieties cross-bred for flavor, size, and pest resistance, as well
as herbal soaps, lotions, and medicinal products, gardening books, pots
and containers, and rain-barrels to conserve water.

Herbs with a
Mediterranean origin thrive in rocky soils, hot sun, even drought. For
modern gardeners, that means herbs are versatile and low-maintenance and
can thrive in a spare corner of a yard, a raised bed, or containers on a
sunny deck.

“A lot of herbs are perennials,” notes Festival
founder Rick Morgan. “Once they’re established, even after a year,
perennials use less water than annuals.” Both for home gardeners and
professionals, that makes herbs an attractive addition to any landscape
design – especially in the southeast, where drought is a repeated,
familiar, and growing problem.

As always, the NC Agricultural Extension Service will have a booth staffed with Master Gardeners to answer questions.