Garden club’s first plant sale of year set for April 20
More than 1,000 tomato plants, coleus plants and zinnias will be for sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 20 at the Bella Vista Garden Club’s large greenhouse at Village Wastewater when the club holds its first plant sale of the year.
Club member Joal Miller said about 10 different varieties of each plant will be available, and members have been working for months getting the plants ready for the sale.
She said they started with the coleus plants, bringing the mother plants to the club’s facility at Village Wastewater in October. In November they took cuttings and rooted them in water and then potted the plants in January.
“We’ve kind of played around and learned what works and what doesn’t work, and rooting them in water is definitely the way to go,” Miller said.
In February club members planted zinnia seeds, and then at the beginning of March they planted tomato seeds. They also potted the zinnias at the beginning of March and at the end of March they finished potting the tomato plants, she said.
The varieties of plants are listed on the club’s website. To link to the website, visit the club’s Facebook page, she said.
The club will accept cash, check, credit or debit cards at the sale, she added. One-gallon pots are $7, and the larger pots range from $10 to $50 for the largest ones.
Miller said of the sale, “It’s just grown and grown. With the hothouses that have been donated, it’s allowed us to double the plants.”
She added all the money raised at the sale is donated locally in Bella Vista, with the exception of the two to three scholarships awarded by the club each year to University of Arkansas students studying horticulture.
“It’s all about giving back to Bella Vista,” she said.
Miller added, “We’ve got a great group of volunteers for the plant sale. We wouldn’t be able to do this without all the people willing to step up and help.”
More men are getting involved in the club, which is nice, she said, because they help with tasks like heavy lifting and digging. More younger members are getting involved as well, she said. The club now has 145 members, which is the largest it has been in a few years.
New to this year’s sale will be a table set up by the Clay Studio at Wishing Spring. The Clay Studio will sell handmade clay pots at the sale, Miller said.
The club’s annual perennial sale will be Saturday, June 1.
For more information on the April plant sale, contact Miller at joalmiller925@gmail.com or 716-553-5283.