Area residents who would like to work their green thumbs should find plenty of gardening inspiration and advice on Saturday, when the Denton County Master Gardener Association hosts its annual garden tour and plant sale.

This year’s theme is “Gardening for Pleasure and the Planet.”

The plant sale will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 633 Hobson Lane in Denton.

The sale will offer Earth-Kind roses; Texas A&M University “Superstar” plants; perennials and herbs for sun and shade; native and adapted plants; and “pass-along” plants from the Master Gardeners themselves.

Steve Huddleston, chief horticulturist for the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, is scheduled to visit the sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to autograph his new book, Easy Gardens for North Central Texas.

The garden tour begins at 9 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m., featuring one garden each in Denton, Pilot Point, Cross Roads, Double Oak and Flower Mound. The gardens are diverse in style, and each will give visitors an opportunity to enjoy their beauty and learn how to garden successfully in North Texas.

Visitors to the Denton garden on this year’s tour may find themselves wanting to linger, and that probably won’t be a surprise to owners Don and Imogene Wier.

The garden provides a refuge, with large trees, lush landscaping, flagstone paths, a fountain and comfortable seating on various levels of a sprawling wooden deck. It’s easy to forget that it was created on a typical city lot.

“It’s so peaceful here,” Imogene Wier said.

It hasn’t always been that way. When the Wiers purchased their Southridge home 10 years ago, the property had trees but otherwise was a blank canvas.

But when the couple looked at the home, Imogene Wier said, her husband saw a lot of potential there. He especially liked the trees.

“We wanted to keep the trees as natural as we could,” Don Wier said, adding that the property boasts 21 cedar elms and five post oaks.

The garden has become an extension of the Wiers’ living space.

“I kind of look at this as the biggest room in our house,” Don Wier said. “This spring, it’s been so nice and cool.”

“We have lights out here at night,” Imogene Wier said. “We’d like to be out here more.”

Pause long enough on the deck, and songbirds will add to the background music provided by the fountain’s bubbling water and the wind in the treetops.

“We have lots of birds,” she said. A heated birdbath attracted 11 varieties during a recent winter storm, she said.

The Wiers completed the class to become Master Gardeners last year, but their backgrounds paved the way for their interest in gardening and landscaping, Imogene Wier said.

Don Wier has a doctorate in soil chemistry, and Imogene worked as a teacher and a designer for a furniture company.

“We took the [gardener] course together,” Imogene Wier said. “That was a good experience.”

Both were raised on Kansas farms.

“Being raised in the country, the country never got out of us,” she said.

Before moving to Denton, the couple lived in Oklahoma on 2 1/2 acres.

“We had a large garden,” Don Wier said. “We grew bushels of tomatoes.”

The Wiers have been happy with their decision to move to Denton.

“Denton had a soul,” Imogene Wier said. “This town had a personality.”

The Wiers look forward to hosting tour visitors.

The couple and other Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions. Education is a key part of the experience, Imogene Wier said. “You get so many good ideas.”

The gardeners will be happy to discuss what they have learned, as well as what not to do, she said.

“The first thing is not to get in a hurry,” she said. “Go through a season or two. Learn what works. Check out drainage. Have your soil tested and work with nature.

“Nature gives you a lot of clues if you listen.”

Visitors to the Wier garden will find two different environments — one in front and another in back. Plant highlights include columbines, roses and star jasmine.

“Our columbines have been exceptional this year,” Imogene Wier said.

Garden tour tickets can be purchased in advance for $8 from Denton County Master Gardeners or at the County Extension Office, located at the corner of Loop 288 and Market Street, Suite 222, in Denton.

They also are available at Denton-area Calloway’s Nursery locations and at Lantana Gardens, 3229 E. FM407 in Bartonville.

Tickets are available for $10 apiece on the day of the tour at any of the gardens or at the plant sale. Visitors can tour a single garden for $5. There is no charge for children younger than 14.

For tour locations, directions and more information, call 940-349-2883 or visit www.dcmga.com.

Side trips

Denton County residents can help “Stamp Out Hunger” simply by taking food donations to their mailboxes Saturday during the 18th annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.

All folks have to do is leave a sturdy bag containing nonperishable food items — canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal — next to their mailboxes prior to regular mail delivery time on Saturday.

Letter carriers will be collecting donations from homes across the county and delivering them to the Denton Community Food Center. 

Last year, county letter carriers collected 21,000 pounds of food benefiting the food center, and organizers hope to break the 25,000-pound mark this year, a news release states.

Residents are needed to serve as volunteers Saturday, said Kelley Pound Hawley, marketing and communications director of the United Way of Denton County.

“Volunteers help unload and weigh food collected by letter carriers,” Hawley said. “We’re always looking for volunteers up to the day of the event.”

In addition, volunteers will be stationed at two Denton supermarkets — Kroger at 5021 Teasley Lane and Brookshire’s at 719 S. Interstate 35E — to collect food donations.

“This is the largest single food drive that benefits the Denton food center all year,” Hawley said. “It’s important to supplement their year. Typically, they see a big jump in donations around the holidays, and then [donations] drop off.”

The United Way is working with the letter carriers association and the food center to organize volunteers.

To volunteer, call Brooke Moore at 940-566-5851.

Kids can learn about fishing at a clinic planned for Saturday at the Johnson Branch Unit of Ray Roberts Lake State Park.

“We set up stations, and as the kids go from station to station, they learn a little about fishing,” said Jan Hodson, interpretive ranger at the park.

Saturday’s “Fish On” event will be from 8 a.m. to noon at the children’s fish pond, Hodson said, where young anglers can put their lessons to use. Tackle and bait will be provided, or kids can bring their own gear.

The clinic is open to children of all ages and is a cooperative effort between the state park and the Lake Ray Roberts Rotary Club.

Free hot dogs will be served for lunch. Door prizes will be provided by Cabela’s of Fort Worth and Walmart.

An earlier fishing clinic planned at the Johnson Branch Unit had to be canceled because of poor weather.

For more information about activities offered at Ray Roberts Lake State Park, call the Johnson Branch Unit at 940-637-2294 or the Isle du Bois Unit at 940-686-2148. To learn about free fishing in state parks and other programs, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us.

Members of the Sanger Area Historical Society are collecting items for a pictorial history of Sanger to be included in the Images of America book series.

Committee member Nancy Smith said the group is requesting personal photographs, pictures, diagrams, drawings, maps and other items of historical significance.

“Pictures can be dropped off at the [Sanger] library,” she said, adding that all materials loaned to the society will be returned. “We need to collect our pictures first, and then write captions that go under them.”

Anyone interested in learning about the project can call Smith at 940-458-3502 or the library at 940-458-3257. The Sanger Public Library is at 501 Bolivar St.

The SpiritHorse Therapeutic Center in Corinth has announced that its eighth annual Fiesta Del Rancho fundraiser will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 15.

This year’s event will feature a live band, pony and carriage rides, family portrait opportunities, a Texas-style dinner with adult beverages, and live and silent auctions. Activities for kids will include a bounce house, balloon animals, face painting and free activity bags.

Reserved tables are available at the Gold and Silver Buckle levels, with marketing opportunities available for businesses, said Rachel Hathaway, fiesta coordinator and senior riding instructor. Auction donations are needed as well.

Tickets are $60 for adults and $15 for children ages 5-10, or $100 per couple, which includes admission for up to two children 12 or younger. Tickets are available online at www.spirithorsetherapy.com.

For more information,  call 940-497-2946. The center is at 1960 Post Oak Drive in Corinth.

LES COCKRELL is interested in your input for Out & About. Help share information about Denton County events and people by calling him at 940-566-6887. His e-mail address is lcockrell@dentonrc.com.