Mill Pond Garden visitors to ogle October opulence

Mill Pond Garden, the Cape Region’s only public botanic garden, is a small gem with 2,000 feet of pathways, garden rooms and wonderful vistas on Red Mill Pond and surrounding forest.

The garden will open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 15, to feature the splendors of early autumn.

Tickets, available at millpondgarden.com, are $15 to admit a vehicle with up to six visitors, or cash only at the gate.

Guests can expect to see native conoclinium (mist flower), native frost asters and other asters, boltonia, hardy chrysanthemums, roses, late hibiscus including some natives, brugmansia - aka angel’s trumpet, abundant big salvia of many species, native devil’s club, mina lobata vine in flower, and possibly passion flowers in bloom, including the very rarely seen giant passion flower (granadilla) with five-inch flowers. The epiphyte garden will be on display with the bromeliads and orchids still in bloom. Many shrubs, especially the native deciduous hollies, will be covered with berries in rich reds and oranges. There will also be some plants showing good fall leaf color, as well as late-blooming annuals, Rose Creek abelia and more. Guests are encouraged to take photographs.

The garden is available as a venue for small private visits, tours, events, weddings, club meetings, photography, photoshoots, quinceanera, and pontoon boat ecotours of Red Mill Pond.