Fox Chapel Garden Club's Gardenfest blooms at O'Hara park

The Fox Chapel Garden Club’s Gardenfest brings people with green thumbs and others just touching the topsoil together for a common goal.

“We all love to garden,” event chair Ronna Riffle said. “We encourage native plantings. We encourage good environmental stewardship.”

The annual agriculture extravaganza took place at the O’Hara Township Community Park on May 10.

The park has been home to the festival for many years. It was previously at Phipps Conservatory and the township community center.

“It’s evolved over the years,” Riffle said. “It’s just got a good reputation because everybody knows there are nice plants. We have a lot of master gardeners. We have a lot of smart ladies here. It’s got a good name and speaks for itself.

“We support the community. We love that we’re drawing in other people from the community with kids and the Men’s Club and other garden clubs.”

Gardeners say it is important for most plants to get a lot of sunlight, and there was plenty of it during the festival, with no rain and temperatures in the low 70s.

More than a dozen vendors participated in the festival.

The Men’s Garden Club of Pittsburgh was on hand to sharpen tools and talk about what equipment to use in a garden.

Penn State Master Gardeners brought tomatoes and perennials. Other participants included Lamb’s Ear Farm, Fox Chapel Girl Scouts, O’Hara Elementary’s Green Foxes Garden Club and the North American Rock Garden Society.

O’Hara photographer Jack Wolf makes note cards from his images taken around Pittsburgh. They also include his garden and shots from inside his car going through carwashes.

Wolf said he has been taking pictures since the 1980s and finds a lot of content in nature. His most passionate subject lately is his dahlias.

“They are the most beautiful flowers,” Wolf said. “They have no adversaries. No deer (and) no drought (can stop them). They have such brilliant color. When you raise them, you might as well make note cards so others can see them.”

Sara Klein of Squirrel Hill picked up a host of flowers, including some geraniums, begonias and dianthus. Her favorite was heucheras.

“I love the texture and the way the leaves look,” Klein said about heuchera. “The veins have a different coloration. I like that and the bells that come from it.”

Klein, a semi-retired attorney, said she got into gardening as a stress reliever and enjoys seeing all the clubs at Gardenfest.

“I’ve been coming for several years now,” she said. “They’re more reasonably priced than other flower sales and they have a nice variety that is unusual. They have a lot that work in the shade and I have a lot of shade in my garden.”

Guyasuta Garden Club’s hanging baskets were a big hit, as well as its houseplants and décor.

Club co-program director Melissa Gaskill said Gardenfest is a great place for folks with green thumbs and others getting their hands dirty for the first time.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” Gaskill said. “We’ve been able to really partake in the environment.”

Guyasuta club president Mohini Chatrathi said this year’s festival offerings were a team effort from new and longtime members.

“We work very hard,” she said. “On Thursday, we put all these baskets together and everyone brings their creativity and everything. People seem to enjoy them.”