The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
JVS Greenhouse sale in full bloom
Spring seems to have sprung as the Lorain County JVS kicked off its annual greenhouse sale.
Spring seems to have sprung April 30 as the Lorain County Joint Vocational School kicked off its annual greenhouse sale.
The sale runs at the Lorain County JVS, 15181 State Route 58 in Oberlin, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday this week, and from Monday through Friday the following weeks until stock runs out or May 15, whichever comes first.
For those looking for flowers for Mother’s Day, the greenhouse will open May 12.
Beth Berthold, landscaping greenhouse management instructor at the JVS, said a few hundred people already have gone to the greenhouse to shop by 10 a.m. April 30.
The funds raised from the sale go straight back into the program to buy supplies for next year’s sale, Berthold said.
She said the greenhouse is stocked with old favorites like petunias, marigolds, peppers, tomatoes and onions as well as what she describes as a little more exotic like cannas and blackeyed Susans.
“(We’re selling) a lot of vegetables; it’s the big hot thing, and also a lot of fourinch annuals,” Berthold said.
The sale is good because it gives the students a chance to interact with the public, she said.
“That helps them to learn how to talk to people in the community, whether they are the consumer or they are the person providing the service,” Berthold said.
The sale is truly studentled, she said.
“The students grow everything; they do everything,” Berthold said. “I’m honestly just here to supervise them when they grow the stuff. I’ll give them points when we learn how to do it, but I am not the grower.”
Sydney Collier, 17, of Amherst, is a junior at Clearview High School, and was arranging seed trays in between pointing customers to the botanicals.
This is Sydney’s first spring sale she’s participated in, but she’s previously worked the school’s poinsettia sale.
“It was a lot easier because there’s only one plant,” she said. “It’s very different learning how to know what people want and telling them where things are and the different plants’ needs. It’s very interesting.”
Don Sabella, 19, of Amherst, a senior at Marion L. Steele High School, and recently was accepted to The Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute.
“I have a passion for everything that I do here,” Sabella said. “In 10 years from now, I can see myself owning my own greenhouse. Just being in here is absolutely what I love to do.”
He said the customers seem to be interested in the hanging baskets on sale for $12, but he had trouble pinning down what his favorite thing is to grow.
“It would probably have to be the fuchsias because they are very unique — their flowers and their shape — and because we have two different kinds,” Sabella said.