Spring Plant Sales

I usually get this started earlier, but after reading the few posts in wrightie's thread, realized we need a new thread for all the events in the Mid Atlantic area. I'll start it off with a list of events in Virginia:

April 14 - May 12 Garden Markets - Saturday mornings 9:00-1:00
Green Spring Gardens Park
Alexandria , VA


April 20-22 Friends of River Farm ~ Plant Sale
American Horticultural Society – River Farm Alexandria , VA

Friday, April 20 4:00 – 8:00 AHS Members Only – Preview Sale
Saturday, April 21 9:00 – 6:00 Public Welcome
Sunday, April 22 9:00 – 3:00 Public Welcome


May 3-5 Annual Spring Plant Sale
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Richmond , VA

Thursday, May 3 4:00 – 8:00 NEW extended hours on Thursday!
Friday, May 4 9:00 – 5:00
Saturday, May 5 9:00 – 3:00


May 11-13 Annual Garden Fair
Virginia State Arboretum-Blandy Experimental Farm Boyce , VA

Friday, May 11 5:00 – 7:30 FOSA Members Only - Preview Night
Saturday & Sunday, May 12-13 9:00 – 5:00 Public Welcome


May 19 Spring Garden Day
Green Spring Gardens Park Alexandria , VA

Saturday 9:00-3:00


May 26 6th Annual Herb and Garden Festival
Edith J. Carrier Arboretum Harrisonburg, VA

Saturday 9:00-3:00

I've got more information if you need it (direct links with directions, etc) just not enough time to post it here this morning. If you have other events that you want to share - post them here!

Debbie

Debbie, thanks so much for posting this. Is the JMU/Carrier sale a good one? I've never been.

hart, it's a nice slow paced sale compared to say, Green Spring the weekend before, which is a mad dash for the first few hours. They usually have about 30-40 vendors with a good variety of plants and garden related tools and gifts. The Arboretum staff also has a booth and they've always had a nice assortment of trees and shrubs for sale at reasonable prices.

There were a couple of years that the Arboretum had scheduling problems - conflicted with other shows that most of the vendors attend in mid-May, but now that they've settled on Memorial Day weekend, there's an excellent group of vendors exhibiting.

Another plus - free parking and readily available! The first few years they held the sale in the "bowl" of the Arboretum which was a beautiful setting but miserable for the vendors to get in and out of and limited parking nearby for customers. Now the sale is held in a parking lot at the top of a hill with easy access for everyone :)

Just a reminder that Friends of River Farm ~ Plant Sale is this weekend at
American Horticultural Society headquarters – Alexandria , VA http://www.ahs.org/river_farm/index.htm Dates and times are listed in my posting above. We're supposed to have beautiful weather and the gardens should be alive with color! Note that the Parkway is closed Sunday morning from 6 AM until noon and an alternate route is posted on the AHS website: http://www.ahs.org/river_farm/events.htm

Debbie

Beltsville Garden Club Plant Sale- Saturday April 21- starts at 8:00 a.m. and runs until noon, in the parkling lot at High Point High School, 3601 Powder Mill Rd. Beltsville, MD

This is a great sale! The second one is May 13th. Same hours.

Be there early for the best selections. Folks snatch up plants quickly as the prices are usually quite reasonable.

See ya there!
ShirleyC

I went to River Farm yesterday for the sale-what a great day for it! Between my friend & I, we practically filled the car w/ plants...

My daughter and I went to the sale at River Farm on Friday and we did fill up her truck between the two of us. I went to the Beltsville sale on Saturday and was there almost 15 minutes, only. My garden is filled already with plants I have purchased from these sales over the past ten years or so. I used to sell there but it got to be too much for me. I did manage to find four or five things I "needed" and then left. I have been trying to decide where to plant it all today. Making a few new beds I guess. Wasn't it a lovely weekend? Seventies would be better than 80s.

thistle and wyldeflwr - well, shoot if you were both at River Farm then we probably met and didn't even know it?? Sounds like you both had a good time - it was pretty hot on Sunday but still better than rain!

Debbie (Rick's Custom Nursery)

Debbie: I didn't realize you were with Rick's Custom Nursery -- I've bought plants from you before!

LOL ! Happy, if you attend any of the shows this spring - make sure you introduce yourself!! And that goes for everyone else as well :)

Debbie,
When my plants were being totalled up, I mentioned that I started counterclockwise this year, because I remembered your location from last year. I also mentioned I work in a garden center, but I also shop for plants on my day off-I agree with you, your place has really great stock. I'm looking forward to Friday, so I can get all my new plants in the ground (don't worry, I'm keeping them watered). Maybe I'll see you at Green Spring in May...Linda/Thistle

We should plan a Green Springs meeting -- I wouldn't miss that event for anything!

What about the Lewis Ginter Gardens sale? Is it nice, alot of plants? Much indoor or tropical stuff? Never been to the gardens yet, but have always wanted to go...

Karen

Linda/Thistle - LOL, I do remember someone mentioning working in a garden center, just wish I could remember the face - next year! Sounds like another great weekend for planting. We were beat when we got home on Monday so "celebrated" by taking some time on Tuesday to start planting some of my new containers :) Hopefully I'll be able to finish them today, it's my last chance until after the Green Springs sale on the 19th!

happy, if you're planning to come to Green Springs on the 19th, please introduce yourself! Hopefully I'll have a few minutes to chat. That sale is so hectic, lots of enthusiastic gardeners!! I barely have a chance to breathe the first few hours!

Karen (VA Wild Rose), Lewis Ginter is a great sale, although I'm prejudiced :) Rick's been attending this sale for 26 years and it's always alot of fun for us. I think there are 42 booths this year - LOTS of plant vendors - orchids, annuals, herbs, perennials, trees and shrubs and a few who include some houseplants (tropicals) in their mix. The LGBG volunteers have a huge canopy with a wide selection of plants at very reasonable prices and seem to remember some tropicals there. Looks like one of my favorite vendors is not going to be there this year - he's a very nice man who sells really unique birdhouses and garden "ornaments" and they're all made with old tools (shovels, hoes, rakes, etc). Hoping maybe he's just late getting his application in and will show up after all. They used to hold the sale the third weekend in April but changed it last year to the first weekend in May - better for everyone because it's usually after the last frost date. If you haven't visited the gardens, this is a great time of year to go! The admission isn't cheap so be sure to plan plenty of time to be able to explore everything. I haven't had a chance to tour the gardens since they opened the children's garden a year ago but hear it's fantastic.

Debbie

Debbie: I'll definitely be at Green Springs, and I'll definitely stop by!

Happy, will look forward to meeting you :)

I'm planning on going with my mom this Saturday to the May 11-13 Annual Garden Fair Virginia State Arboretum-Blandy Experimental Farm Boyce , VA if it doesn't rain. Hope to see you there Debbie. Maybe you can check out my Garden Journal and make some suggestions. I've been waiting to plant everything I've already bought this season until after I go and see what else I might bring back with me. Can't wait!

There's a plant sale on Sat. May 13th at the Cylburn Arboretum here in Baltimore. 08:30-4ish.....

I went with my husband and my mom to the Blandy Arboretum Garden Fair last Saturday. Really nice! Will become an annual event for me. And a visit to Ricks Custom Nursery is a must. It was so good to meet you and your husband Debbie. Thanks so much for the plants you saved aside for me, and especialy for the variegated version of the arisaema (for the regular price yet), I didn't even know there was one! I recommend to anyone here, if there is something you have in mind and plan to attend a sale where Debbie will be, look up her website and let them know ahead. She'll do right by you. Now that I've gotten everything I wanted from the show I can finally plant everything that I have bought up till now. I must have spent 2 to 3 hours last night, arranging and rearranging the 17 plants that I have to go in. I think I finally have to admit I'm out of room on the top deck side garden. On to the bottom deck!!!

miatablu, I must be really tired - it finally hit me this morning - your screen name? let me guess, you drive a blue Miata? LOL Great to meet you this weekend and happy that you arrived when I had a little time to chat with you :) Sometimes we're so busy I can't and I would hate it if anyone thought we were rude - when the lines are forming you've got to move fast! Glad you got the plants you needed and hope you'll plan to come back to the ArborFest at the arboretum in the fall if you need more!

I received a nice gift from a customer on Sunday - a beautiful little dwarf Maidenhair fern that he had told me about. I had asked him if he would dig up a little piece for me to try in in our gardens and he showed up Sunday morning with a "piece" of the fern that filled one of those little red wagons! Needless to say, he got a huge hug and a few free plants :)

Here are some plant sales & swaps I went to in PA (for consideration for next year):
Cumberland County Ext Office Plant sale: Carlisle, PA May 5 from 8-2, Manada Hill Sale 10-4 May 5, (I went to both), Carlisle Garden Club (8-2 on Friday May 11) I went to this one, also. Hershey Hort Society Plant sale: (Hershey, PA) May 12 8-? Also on May 12: King's Gap Conservancy: Native Plant Sale: 8-4.

Buttoneer:
Did I see in another thread that you attended a swap in Lancaster County once? If so, when and where was it? I live in Lancaster County and was wondering if I missed something....hope not.
RatherB

There was a fellow who lives in Lancaster County named Dave Gelatt (hortusd@msn.com) who has been sponsoring swaps for years. I went to the last two. He has moved to another house in Lancaster and hasn't had a swap since then. Maybe if enough of us email him, maybe next year, we can persuade him to do another swap) There is another swap that I went to that I forgot to mention: Lower Allen Twp swap in Mechanicsburg, PA. It was great. You brought 12 plants and were given a ticket for each plant. then, they had lectures on herbs, landscaping, ponding, perennials 101, etc and at noon, they drew the numbers & when your number comes up, you go to the tables & pick a plant. They did this until everybody had plants & then if anybody didn;'t have a plant, they could pick. I brought in 17 plants & took 12 home. I really enjoyed that. The rest of the ones I mentioned were plant sales, not plant swaps.

If you have it, can you dmail me his email and I will ask/persuade him too. Do you remember the dates of the one in Mechanicsburg or a contact person? I would love to get on both mailing lists or ask when they usually have it. The one in Mechanicburg sounds very organized...I like that. If you hear of any others close to Lancaster, please let me know. They used to have one at the Historical Society in Lititz, but I think they discontinued it...I will have to double check. That was a good one, but you just dropped your stuff at the wall and on the honor system, you walked along the wall and took the same as you brought. A little crazy, but I alway found something good.

Thanks for the information.

I went to a plant sale at the Hershey Hort Society and that was great. Plants reasonably priced & you had to be in line before 8 am so you could get in first & get the best pick. Daves email address is Hortusd@msn.com.

Where do you find when these are all scheduled? I would love to know for next year!

The Harrisburg Patriot News prints them on Thursday in the gardening section. You might be able to check the gardening section online. If you look at my first post, the dates & times for this year are all on there. Just keep the dates for next year. I believe the one I went to in lower Allen Twp Mechanicsburg was April 30, about a week before my Hobby Greenhouse meeting.

Thanks, Buttoneer. I only saw the Virginia plant sales above. I will check on line or will get the Thursday paper from time to time and see. I would hate to have one of these events out my back door, so to speak, and I did not know! I appreciate all your info. You are all a great bunch of people over here.

I have yet to meet someone from Lancaster on DG...some have been near me, but no one from Lancaster County?

I'm in Cumberland, County. Sorry that's the best I can do.

I'm just surprised I haven't run across anyone yet, because there are so many gardening finatics around here...most be on different forums that I.

Thanks. Cumberland County is not that far away.

If you go to Pennlive.com (this is the web site for the Hbg Patriot News) and check out their gardening section. That's where the events show up. Workshops, plant sales, swaps, etc.

Thanks, will do. Anything for plants! I have them all over my driveway now, and I am not sure exactly where they are all going...what an addictive disease gardening is!

Just an addendum, I went to the Dollar General store this spring & purchased lots & lots of packets of seeds. Mixed them all up in one ziplock baggie. Shook it up real good to mix them up & scattered them all around a circular garden I have. This was Mid-May. Today, the circle is riot of color. Dollar General now has their seeds half price, so I scarfed up 80 packs of seeds, mixed them all up & next May, watch out!!!!!!!!!!!!