Carol Stocker Answers Your Gardening Questions Live On Line 1 p.m. Friday; NEW BEDFORD PRESERVATION SOCIETY PRESENTS ITS 19th ANNUAL HOLIDAY HOUSE TOUR.
Boston Globe garden writer Carol Stocker will be on line with more tips and gardening answers today at 1-2 p.m. so email your questions to boston.com at that time to get an immediate response.
Here's her top rated House and Garden Event for this weekend:
The New Bedford Preservation Society19th Annual Holiday House Tour Saturday, December 4 (4 to 8 p.m.) and Sunday, December 5 (1 to 5 p.m.).
Everyone knows Nantucket, but if you haven't discovered Historic New Bedford, an even bigger center of 18th century whaling wealth, this is your chance. Historic homes have been decked in festive holiday décore with historic characters in period costume. The magnificent Rotch-Jones Duff House and Garden Museum will be included in this year’s tour. Highlights at RJD will be a Festival of Tables and a New Bedford Museum of Glass exhibit. The "Spot the Victorian Peppermint Pig Scavenger Hunt," will again be part of the tour with proceeds from the sale of the pigs (available at tour headquarters) benefitting the society's scholarship fund. View a video of last year's tour at the society's website: www.nbpreservationsociety.org .
Both the Saturday candlelight tour and Sunday afternoon tour start at the Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, tour headquarters, where a pre-tour holiday brunch will be held on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., along with a holiday raffle of gifts, art, handcrafted items and generous gift certificates donated by local merchants. Discounted advance tickets ($19 with $2 discount to Society members) are now on sale at the following locations: Elaine's at the Black Whale, New York Shoe Repair (for credit card sales), The Surrey Shoppe, Periwinkles, Baker Books, Davoll's General Store, The Ultimate Touch, The Woodhouse Shop, Roseland Nursery and the Marion General Store. At the door, tickets will be priced at $23. Cost of the Sunday brunch is $17 (all-inclusive, tax and tip), and reservations may be made by calling the Wamsutta Club at 508.997.7431.
The Annual Holiday House Tour is the Society’s signature fund-raising event. All proceeds benefit the work of the Society in its efforts to sustain and promote historic preservation in New Bedford through such projects as the historical building marker program, historical cemetery tours, walking/trolley tours, the Re-Leaf tree-planting program, the newly formed scholarship fund, the publication of self-guided walking tour brochures, lectures, and more.
For more information, please call the New Bedford Preservation Society office (388 County Street, New Bedford) at 508-997-6425 or visit www.nbpreservationsociety.org. Be sure to check out the New Bedford Whaling Museum, too.
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Carol Stocker has been writing about gardening for the Boston Globe for 30 years. She has won the top newspaper writing award of the Garden Writer's Association of American three times. Her newest book is "The Boston Globe Illustrated New England Gardening Almanac."
