Whether you are looking for exotic tomato plants for your vegetable garden, tasty herbs to spice up your favorite recipes, or just need a trees or shrubs for a bald spot in yard, the Wilson County Extension Master Gardeners annual plant sale is the place to be Saturday, April 11.
“Please come out and support the Wilson Botanical Gardens,” said Ellen Schaed, president of the Wilson County Extension Master Gardeners. “Our plant sale is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and you will find some very different plants that you won’t find at your big box stores, and it is a nice community experience to come out and meet your neighbors and join in the gardening community.”
Member Kathy Wall, co-chair of the plant sale, said the sale will be from 9 a.m. to noon at the Wilson County Agricultural Center. Wilson Botanical Gardens members get in at 8:30 a.m. for the first pick.
Revenues from the sale support the nonprofit.
“That’s what provides most of our operating revenue that we use to improve the garden, to buy more plants, to pay for various services we might need, for maintenance. We have an irrigation system here and sometimes things break and we need to get the irrigation people in, and they are not cheap,” Wall said.
Wall said that planning for this year’s sale started in November.
“In the fall, we decide what we want to grow, developing a schedule for the planting,” Wall said. “Seeds were started in the greenhouse staring in January, based on how long it takes them to germinate.”
More than 1,000 plants have been grown in the greenhouse for the sale.
“We’ve got some varieties that we haven’t had before. We have some of the old favorites, but we try to mix it up,” Wall said. One of the most beautiful varieties is Fred’s Tie Dye, a dwarf tomato plant that can be grown in a pot.
Then there is the Roma Sunrise Sauce, which is great for making spaghetti.
Cherry Sun Golds are back this year along with Striped German and the Kellogg’s Breakfast, a low-acid tomato. Then there are the Dwarf Eagle Smileys and a wide range of more common varieties that will be familiar to tomato lovers.
Lots of herbs, including several varieties of basil, parsley, lemongrass, peppermint and oregano will be available.
The varieties include tomatillo, spaghetti squash, jalapeno peppers, poblano peppers, green bell peppers, chamomile for making tea as well as marigolds, catnip, two different types of milkweed, two colors of coleus, eucalyptus, salmon-colored geraniums and a bunch of white sunflowers already 2 feet tall.
The gardeners have gathered hundreds of rescue plants including Lenten roses, bluebells, assortments of wildflowers, fiddle ferns, witch hazel, swamp milkweeds, lilies, creeping phlox, persimmon trees, witch hazel, fig trees, camellias, juniper, agave, some cactus plants and house plants.
Prices generally range from $4 to $8 in the greenhouse and among rescue plants with a few plants costing more depending on the size and rarity.
Cash, check and credit/ debit cards are accepted with a 3% up charge for the cards but no sales tax on any sales.
Members of the Wilson Youth Council will be helping take plants to customers’ cars.
If you plan to purchase a lot of plants, take a cart or wagon, and go early.
“There usually is a line outside the building,” Wall said.
“We don’t sell out, but we are usually pretty close to it,” Schaed said. “The tomatoes always sell out.”
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