Friday, May 9, 2014

Plant Sale Saturday May 10th

The plant sale will be held on Saturday, May 10th from 9-11 a.m. at the maintenance building. The greenhouse will be open but for viewing only. All plant material for sale will be in the maintenance building set up on tables.

When I first started the sale in 2009, I handled the ordering and installing all plant material. I figured many like to buy plants for their homes and I would have some extras available.  Why not share them with the members and the funds raised would offset the cost of growing the plants in the first place.  A win/win for everyone.  I ordered simpler varieties and a majority of the plants were grown in 6 pack flats and we would growing 6000 plants.  Would usually have an abundance of plants in some varieties. My bed planning was to buy the plants I liked and figure out a way to make them work.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not.

Becky who now handles our horticulture program is just in the beginning stages of planting.  She now brings in a lot less plants per variety grown.  Most are grown in 4" pots but with many more varieties.  I believe 62 varieties totaling nearly 4000 plants this year.  As a horticulture professional, she has planned her combinations, estimated the number of plants she needs and then orders in the material in January.  As most home gardeners know, you might estimate and end up falling short or have too many plants. Some of the plants we ordered in to grow are not necessarily available from garden shops.  That is the dilemma she faces with making plants available for sale, especially since we are in the early stages of planting.  She spoke with me this morning regarding what she can make available and it sounds like a wide range of plants.

We will a number of items available for sale but will probably not have large quantities of any one item.  A number of unique species for containers or small plantings.  Accounts will be billed in the usual manner.  See you Saturday!

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