If you have a bare corner of the yard waiting on fall, where should you shop for it on Saturday, November 7? Two free plant sales open that morning a town apart. The Mount Dora Plant & Garden Fair fills Donnelly Park, and the UF/IFAS Extension Lake County Master Gardener Volunteers hold their 2026 Fall Festival & Plant Sale at Discovery Gardens in Tavares.
Tavares is set up to teach, with a full Saturday of short talks given by Extension agents and local conservation groups. Donnelly Park is set up to sell, with nurseries from across the state. Because their hours don't match, the whole weekend works best if you do them in that order.
| Mount Dora Plant & Garden Fair | Master Gardener Fall Festival & Plant Sale | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Donnelly Park, 530 N. Donnelly St., Mount Dora | UF/IFAS Discovery Gardens, 1951 Woodlea Rd, Tavares |
| Saturday, Nov. 7 | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Sunday, Nov. 8 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Admission | Free | Free |
| Built around | Statewide nurseries, garden ware, arts and crafts | Saturday talks, 4-H open house, local vendors |
| Saturday extra | Plein Air Paint Out with Mount Dora Center for the Arts | Ten scheduled educational talks |
The Hours Favor Tavares First
On Saturday, Discovery Gardens closes at 3 p.m. and its last talk starts at 2:00. Donnelly Park stays open until 5. If you spend the morning in Tavares, you can still reach downtown with a couple of hours to shop. If you start downtown and head to Tavares later, you'll miss most of the talks.
Sunday works differently. The Tavares page lists the 4-H Open House, the UF/IFAS displays and the educational talks for Saturday only, and the local plant, craft and food vendors for both days. So Sunday is a straight shopping day at both sites, and the order matters less. Downtown closes at 4 that day and Tavares at 3.
Saturday Morning in Tavares Runs Like a Class Schedule
The Master Gardeners have scheduled a talk every half hour, so you can pick a session and plan your arrival around it.
- 9:30 a.m. Easy Salsa Recipe, with samples, by Lori Johnson, UF/IFAS Extension Lake County Family & Consumer Sciences Agent
- 10:00 a.m. Plant This, Not That, by naturalist Lavon Silvernell of the Florida Native Plant Society
- 10:30 a.m. Bees, Bees, Bees!, by Giles Paget-Wilkes, Master Gardener Volunteer with Lake County Beekeepers
- 11:00 a.m. All About Hops, by Matt Smith, UF/IFAS Extension Lake County Commercial Crop Production Agent
- 11:30 a.m. Agriculture, by Nadia Rivera, Lake County 4-H Ambassador and winner of the 2025 Florida Farm Bureau Speaking Contest
- 12:00 p.m. Compost: The Basic Equation, by Giles Paget-Wilkes
- 12:30 p.m. Show & Tell: Chickens and Rabbits!, by Dallas Meringolo, County Extension Director and 4-H Agent
- 1:00 p.m. Restoring Shorelines, by Luke Valentine and Veronica Dau of the Lake County Water Authority
- 1:30 p.m. What is a Bioactive Terrarium, Aquarium, or Pond?, by Kyle Trotter of Nature Built
- 2:00 p.m. Butterfly Puddlers, by Sandra Bryan, Master Gardener Volunteer
If you're mainly shopping for your yard, the 10:00 talk is a natural place to start. The event page describes it as a look at how Florida natives may use less water, need little or no fertilizer, and provide food and shelter for birds and butterflies. Lakefront owners may want the 1:00 shoreline session from the Lake County Water Authority instead. Staying for it means getting downtown later, though Donnelly Park is still open until 5.
The Tavares Tables Are Already Named
Downtown hasn't posted its 2026 vendor list yet, but Tavares has. The plant vendors are Central Florida Orchids, Chianina Microtopia, Doug's Air Plants, Mincy Farms, Plant Sages, Plantocity, R&G Nursery Farms, Regenerative Designs, Struthers Nursery and The Chic Plastique.
Several tables carry the same educational focus as the talks. The Lake Beautyberry Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, the Lake County Conservation Council, the Florida Trail Association, Lake County Mosquito Control, the Lake County Water Authority and the UF/IFAS Plant Clinic are all on the county and nonprofit list. Central FL Native Landscaping, Mac's Outdoor Design, Hangapot, Patchwork Place Apiary and The Grow Food Company are among the craft and other vendors.
For lunch there's Pizzolas, Taco Power Food Truck, The Lemon Grove, The Dog House and The Real Maine Lobster. The Royal Harbor Jammers play Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. and Sunday from noon to 1 p.m. One rule to know before you go is that Discovery Gardens doesn't allow pets. Service animals are welcome.
Downtown Is the Bigger Market
The Plant & Garden Fair is held on the first weekend of November every year, and 2026 is listed as its 32nd. The organizers describe vendors and nurseries "from all over the state" selling Florida native and exotic plants, garden ware, and arts and crafts. Experts are on hand to answer gardening questions, and volunteers help cart plants to your car. That cart service is the main reason to do your bigger buying downtown at the end of the day.
The fair site says its 2026 map and vendor list aren't available yet. Last year's roster gives a sense of the range. The 2025 vendors included Spring Lake Tropicals, Grassroots Nursery, Loch Laurel Nursery, Goodwin Orchids-Vandas, McCrory's Bromeliad Nursery, John Plank Greenhouses and Greens Nursery, plus a UF/IFAS Mobile Plant Clinic table. Mount Dora Buzz's 2025 preview counted almost 100 vendors under the Donnelly Park tree canopy that year. It listed orchids, flowering shrubs, fruit trees, camellias, succulents, bamboo, bromeliads, herbs, bonsai, and vintage garden items and statuary. That was last year's lineup, and it gives a sense of how wide the selection downtown has been.
Saturday also brings Mount Dora Center for the Arts' annual Plein Air Paint Out to the fair. Artists paint on site from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and their finished work is for sale until 3 p.m. This is the one place where the two schedules overlap. If you want to buy a painting as well as plants, plan to reach Donnelly Park by early afternoon. That means leaving Tavares after the 12:00 compost talk or soon after.
What the November Calendar Says to Plant
The fair site points out that November is planting season in Florida, and UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions gives the details for this region. Its what-to-plant-by-month calendar defines Central Florida as the area between State Roads 40 and 70. For November, it lists these crops:
- Easy to transplant: arugula, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, sugarcane and Swiss chard
- Transplant with care: celery, mustard, pineapple, potatoes and spinach
- Seed directly: carrots, bulbing or bunching onions, English peas, radishes and turnips
The seed list helps you plan the weekend. Carrots, radishes and peas go straight into the ground, so you don't need to buy them as starts at either sale. That leaves room in the car for the transplants and the shrubs and natives you came for.
Getting Into Downtown This Year
Donnelly Street itself is open. The City held a ribbon cutting for the Donnelly Street reconstruction on May 21, 2026, and said the road would reopen to normal traffic right afterward. A few blocks nearby work differently than they did last fall. The City announced in August that Alexander Street would become southbound only from 5th to 4th Avenue, Baker Street southbound from 5th to 3rd Avenue, and Tremain Street northbound from 3rd to 5th Avenue. Work was scheduled for September, with dates the City called approximate. Follow the posted signs on those blocks rather than last year's routes.
The fair's own directions list GPS 530 N Donnelly St., Mount Dora, FL 32757. Last year, Mount Dora Buzz told drivers to follow signs to nearby public and private parking lots.
At Scott McFadden, much of the work is helping people settle into homes and yards around Mount Dora, and this weekend is one of the best on the calendar for that. If you pick up something at either sale and want to talk through where it might go in your yard or on your lanai, let's connect.
