The Montgomery County Master Gardener Plant Sale was held on Saturday, May 30 just as promised. Initially I had not planned to attend. It was not like I needed more plants or anything. In fact, I was selling plants to try to edit my gardens. Pictured above are my good friends Phil and Judie. They carried my plants to the sale because I thought I'd be out of town on the day of the plant sale. You see, we had intended to be on our way to North Carolina on this particular day, but due to this plant sale and Mr. Fix-it's car interests we postponed the trip by one day. Can you hear opportunity knocking on the door??
The sale started at 8:00 am. Usually the group is sold out by early afternoon and if you are not there early, you will not get anything good. I definitely knew I would not be there at 8:00 am. Being one of the first at a plant sale usually means crowds all vying for the good plants. Pushing and shoving and elbowing fellow plant enthusiasts for good plants is not my idea of fun. I avoid these kinds of plant sales at all costs. No good plant or deal is worth the aggravation, but I digress. I arrived at nearly 11:00 am and wow! There were tons of great plants available for sale. Not only were there tons of great plants available, but the nice folks selling the plants were marking them down!! And no crowds anywhere in sight!Now let me tell you, anyone who has ever participated in plant sales knows it is a big deal. You have to plan months in advance and be determined in order to get a nice showing of good plants. Plant sales take work. All of the master gardeners went out of their way to offer outstanding plants of high quality at good prices. If you missed this plant sale, you totally missed out! But hang in there as there will be a fall plant sale too. I can honestly say I will not miss another Master Gardener plant sale if I can help it.
There were some really good gardeners selling plants from their own gardens at this plant sale. Dr. Matthews, a retired Austin Peay horticulture professor, had a great deal of wonderful plants available for sale. I picked up a single kerria, winter jasmine, 'Autumn Sun' rudbeckia (a huge plant), and several others from him. David, the past President of the Master Gardener Association was selling some of his famous angel trumpets. I also picked up a dwarf lamb's ear, bottlebrush buckeye, celadine poppies, Indian Pinks, and too many other plants to name. I wish I could name all of the master gardeners who donated their time and plants to make this plant sale a success, but there are just too many. These guys deserve a big round of applause for taking the time to pot up all these numerous plants and donate them to the plant sale. Money used from the plant sale benefits the community so this is truly a community event.
And of course I cannot let you go without showing you my haul. I spent a grand total of $29. For this sum I received about 30 celandine poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum), 2 sweet autumn clematis, winter jasmine, Tartarian aster, bottlebrush buckeye, angel trumpet, lamb's ear, Indian Pinks, 'Autumn Sun' rudbeckia, kerria (a single), horsetails, and many more. I unfortunately have not logged them all, though most all were planted on the same day as the plant sale. What a marathon planting session! I was able to head off on vacation with a clear mind that all plants were safe in the ground though.If you get the chance to come to this sale this fall, jump on it! And don't worry about the crowds, they are folks just like you and me, all looking for a nice deal on that dream plant. Just watch the elbows:) I'll post again in plenty of time for you to plan your day around this fabulous plant sale. See you there.
in the garden....
