Preparations for the Master Gardeners of Greene County 20th Annual Plant Sale are moving right along! Our diligent volunteers are busy browsing through seed catalogs, trading seeds, washing pots, building soil, and dreaming of the varieties they will share with our customers in just a couple months.
Some customers have wondered how long plants that have been repotted for the Annual Plant Sale have been in their final pots. In short, as long as possible! In all reality, time-in-the-pot depends largely on the variety (perennial vs annual) and when the donations become available to our Master Gardeners. Each year, hundreds of quickly-growing annuals such as tomatoes and peppers are germinated for the sale and are usually repotted at least once during the spring. To ensure that the plant is ready to be planted in the garden immediately after it gets a home, the final repot is always at least two weeks before the sale. The timeline for repotting perennials is somewhat more variable. Whenever possible, perennial plants that come back year after year are potted up for the sale either during the fall before the Annual Plant Sale, or in the very early spring as soon as new growth is evident. For example, in the photo above, over 200 swamp milkweeds were placed in their winter home last fall for the sale this spring. Volunteers have consistently checked the over-wintered plant stock to make sure all is safe in the winter beds. For examples of other varieties that were potted last fall for the sale this spring, please check out this short list of fall repots. This list and other plant lists of what will be available will be updated throughout the spring until the Plant Sale in April, so check back often!
As a reminder, the 2017 20th Annual Plant Sale will start at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, April 29, 2017, at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center located in Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Parks, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., Springfield, MO, and will continue until 2:00 p.m. People are advised to arrive early if they want the best choices of shrubs, small trees, bulbs, perennials, annuals, grasses, ground covers, houseplants, vegetables, herbs and garden related items. Master Gardeners will be on site to assist with purchases and answer questions. Cash, checks and credit or debit cards are accepted.
For more information and to keep up-to-date as the event approaches, please visit the Annual Plant Sale web page: http://mggreene.org/plantsale/
