Sitting in fresh soil, thriving plants wait for a new home outside of Woodgrove’s plant sale, thanks to the garden club. Sharing their interests in a laid back environment, the garden club meets to prepare for Woodgrove’s plant sale and expand their knowledge of plant care. Established last year, club advisors Tami Carlow and Erin Barrett hope to pass on their gardening knowledge to the garden club’s members. Carlow, a plant owner who learned from years of interest and experience in the garden, explained, “It was just really fun to give the knowledge back of what I know to students who might not know anything.”
The plant sale, which takes place on December 18th, is where garden club members get to use what they’ve learned to sell the plants they’ve worked on. Although the plant sale has been going on for nine years, the garden club has only been involved for two years. Senior Summer Davis has been a member of the club since last year, and she stated,“I look forward to it [the plant sale], even if I might not be explicitly a part of [covering the plant sale], it’s still interesting to be a part of it behind the scenes.” The plant sale is mainly made up of clippings and donated plants the garden club has received and repotted or grown.
One project the garden club has done this year is fixing up donated orchids that are in bad shape. They do this by repotting them with the proper airy soil the orchid needs. After they are back in good shape, the garden club then reconnects the plant with the original owner, or sells the now healthy plant in the plant sale.
Before transporting or setting up for the sale, plants must be potted early on so that their roots have enough time to settle. Timing is an aspect that must be considered: if a plant is not ready, then it may not be possible to include it in the sale. Faced with this challenge, Barrett carries an optimistic attitude. Barrett expressed, “If I miss the window, I miss the window, that can be a bummer…At the end of the day, you just have to say, okay, I guess we’re not selling that.”
Tasks leading up to the sale involve more than just planting. There’s a lot being done to prepare for the sale when the club meets on green club days. Carlow explained, “We either do transplanting, plant new plants, or we decorate some of the jars, and paint some of the pots, to get ready for the sale.”
The garden club’s plant sale is worth more than the funds it brings in to support the club’s projects. Davis expressed other reasons why it might be important to put on the sale, “[The sale] gets more people interested in gardening… the more we get our name out there, the more people want to join.” Garden club members get to share their interests in plants and the club by putting on the plant sale. Barrett exclaimed, “Seeing the kids realize what they can create, and that people actually want these things like: ‘I did that!’ and people are excited about it, that’s kind of fun to see.” Woodgrove’s staff and students also get the chance to enjoy the products of the garden club’s hard work. Seeing the club’s hard work interest the Woodgrove community, Carlow shared, “The kids love it. I mean, they always go to the plant sale and buy all kinds of plants, and it’s really nice.”