Purdue Extension Service

Vanderburgh County, Indiana

Master Gardener Plant Sale at 4H Center This Weekend!

By Larry Caplan, Extension Horticulture Educator, Vanderburgh County, IN

For the Evansville Courier and Press, May 2, 2008

This Saturday and Sunday, the Southwestern Indiana Master Gardeners Association will be holding their annual Plant Sale. The plant sale hours are Saturday, May 3 (8 am-5 pm), and Sunday, May 4, 2008 (10 am-2 pm). To provide more space for our shoppers, the sale has been moved to the Vanderburgh County 4H Center on Boonville-New Harmony Road.

Thousands of plants will be available, including sun and shade perennials, annuals, herbs, vegetables, water plants, house plants and more. Garden related items, and Mother’s Day gifts, will also be available.

Some of the exciting varieties to look for include Brunnera ‘Emerald Mist’, Ligularia ‘Osirius Fantaisie’, Geranium ‘Orkney Cherry’, Tiarella ‘Sugar and Spice’ and more. Many hostas, including the special ‘Deja Blu’ will be sold. Additionally, peonies grown from stock from nationally known peony specialist Roy Klehm of Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery will be available.

Plants grown from seed by Master Gardeners, as well as divisions from their own gardens, will also be sold.

A special feature this year will be a Black and White table, featuring plants in those color tones. Watch for black hollyhocks, black violas, Geranium ‘Midnight Reiter’, white dahlias, white Angelonia, Dicentra ‘Alba’, and other fun plants!

Informational materials, including a hand out on starting a monochromatic garden bed, will be given away. A limited number of seed sprouting kits will also be given away.

New to the sale are a series of "Gardening 101" mini-seminars, free of charge. Starting at 9:30 am on Saturday, these short presentations will provide basic information to the gardening public. Topics to be covered include:

• 9:30 am - Hostas and Companion Plants - Julie Mallory  
• 10:15 am - Tool Sharpening - Joe Mills  
• 11:00 am - Maintenance Calendar for Indiana Lawns - Larry Caplan  
• 11:45 am - Container Gardening - Cheryl Bremer  
• 12:30 pm - Seed Sprouting - Jane Rexing & Ann Goodman  
• 1:15 pm - Tomatoes - Ernie Hicks  
• 2:00 pm - Terrariums - Rhonda Schenk  
• 2:45 pm - Controlling Vegetable Insects - Larry Caplan  

Dozens of Master Gardeners will be working at the Sale, providing the public with an extensive wealth of information about gardening. Your humble columnist will be there practically all day Saturday, too.

After you're through shopping, you might want to head out to the far east side and check out a neat program at Angel Mounds State Historic Site called "Voices of the East."  It's a Native American Living Village, and one of the components of the event is an herb/native plant walk, in addition to just general native plant discussions ongoing throughout the program.

Remember the new plant sale location: Vanderburgh County 4H Center! There will be plenty of convenient parking, and volunteers to help get your purchases to your car. For more information about the plant sale or the Master Gardener program, contact the Purdue Extension Service at (812) 435-5287.