By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

A killer deal awaits any garden lover willing to go to the Eugene/Cottage Grove area next weekend. Sponsored by Village Green Resort in Cottage Grove, it includes lodging, dinner, breakfast, and tours of some of the area’s best nurseries. Total package: $69 to $89 for two.

Village Green Resort in Cottage Grove was a place your grandparents probably loved if they traveled through Oregon much. Eventually it fell onto hard times and lost its lustre — and that probably would have been the end of it if garden-struck Moonstone Hotels hadn’t bought it and turned it around. (Moonstone also bought and is refurbishing The Oregon Garden in Silverton; word on the street is that Moonstone’s owner excels at hotels so he can fund his horticulture habit. I believe it.)

As part of Village Green’s renovation, Moonstone gave garden director Cindee Eichengreen the mandate to revitalize its gardens, and she’s made a great start. Friday evening she’ll be giving a seminar on garden design. Saturday the resort has arranged visits to Log House Plants (one of the West’s most innovative growers), Territorial Seed Company, Northwest Garden Nursery (you’ll see the best hellebores anywhere here), Gossler Farms Nursery, and Bloom River Nursery.

For reservations, call 800 343-7666 and say you want the Great Garden Escape package March 28-29.