Attention, Road Trips Gardeners: this is an event you don’t want to miss. The Eighth Biennial Rare Affair will take place from 5 to 11 p.m. June 3, 2011; entrance is by ticket only (typically, $250/person, although this year’s tariff has not yet been announced).

Sponsored by the Woman’s Board of the Chicago Horticultural Society, this event begins at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois, with cocktails and a silent auction. A live auction will take place during dinner, led by auctioneer Steven J. Zick of Christie’s.

NOTE: The auction will include plants that are not readily available, those gleaned from foreign collection expeditions, new introductions, private collections, and novel size or forms.

The proceeds of the event will support the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Evaluation Program, including the Chicagoland Grows® plant breeding program and Plant Evaluation Notes – both which develop or identify superior plants for Midwestern gardens, now including green roof gardens and rain gardens.