{"id":11753,"date":"2012-10-01T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T15:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=11753"},"modified":"2012-10-01T10:41:26","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T14:41:26","slug":"downingtown-festival-cultivates-diverse-tastes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=11753","title":{"rendered":"Downingtown festival cultivates diverse tastes"},"content":{"rendered":"

36th annual event features plants, antiques, music, food, history, and more<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor,\u00a0 The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Downingtown horticulturalist David L. Culp will add his expertise to the plant sale at the 36th Annual Downingtown Friends Fall Festival.<\/p><\/div>\n

When an urban high school principal thanked a longtime Longwood Gardens educator for a class that fostered empowerment to \u201cchange the world one garden at a time,\u201d the gratitude resonated.<\/p>\n

The reason? Downingtown horticulturalist David L. Culp knew he had successfully transferred his enthusiasm to his adult student, reinforcing Culp’s passion for making a positive impact through plants. \u201cWhen I hear something wonderful like that, it keeps me going,\u201d \u00a0Culp said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, his energy for beautifying his surroundings has cultivated many repeat visitors to the Downingtown Friends Fall Festival, where Culp orchestrates the plant sale.\u00a0 Now in its 36th<\/sup> year, the free festival will be held Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the historic grounds of Downingtown Friends Meeting on East Lancaster Avenue.<\/p>\n

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An 1806 Quaker wedding reenactment will be one of the attractions at the 36th Annual Downingtown Friends Fall Festival on Oct. 13.<\/p><\/div>\n

Diehard plant aficionados have learned to mark their calendars and arrive early because Culp eschews a garden-variety selection. He said some visitors have reported traveling from as far as Maryland and New Jersey for the sale. \u201cI\u2019ve been collecting for several months,\u201d he said, promising some unusual peonies, Chinese clivia, and what sounds like an oxymoron: hardy orchids.<\/p>\n

Culp, whose 1790s farmhouse property, Brandywine Cottage, is a garden-tour favorite,\u00a0 espouses a\u00a0 multi-textured, naturalistic landscape, an approach that he has shared in numerous publications such as Horticulture, Colonial Home and Fine Gardening.<\/p>\n

This year, he has a new offering for festivalgoers: his first book. As long as the initial shipment arrives in time, he said he plans to sign copies of \u201cThe Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you’ve\u00a0never met a plant you couldn\u2019t destroy, the festival will have myriad\u00a0 alternatives,\u00a0 all with a backdrop of culinary offerings and live music. \u201cThe Friends Mercantile\u201d will attract treasure-hunters with an assortment of new and gently used items, books, and antiques. Bargains will also abound in a silent auction.<\/p>\n

For children, activities will include pumpkin-decorating, face-painting, spin art, crafts, and games, such as mini-golf.\u00a0 History buffs will want to tour the meeting house to see an exhibit of antique Quaker clothing and memorabilia. At \u00a01:30 p.m., reenactors will recreate the first wedding held at the meeting house in 1806; photos with the wedding party will be welcomed.<\/p>\n

Downingtown Friends Meeting is located at 800 E. Lancaster Ave., just west of Wegman\u2019s, with ample free parking. For more information, visit www.downingtownfriendsmeeting.org\/fallfestival.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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36th annual event features plants, antiques, music, food, history, and more By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor,\u00a0 The Times When an urban high school principal thanked a longtime Longwood Gardens educator for a class that fostered empowerment to \u201cchange the world one garden at a time,\u201d the gratitude resonated. The reason? Downingtown horticulturalist David L. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,924,7],"tags":[1987,1950,1985,1986,369],"class_list":["post-11753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-events","category-featured","tag-brandywine-cottage","tag-david-l-culp","tag-downingtown-friends-fall-festival","tag-downingtown-friends-meeting","tag-longwood-gardens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}