Spring Plant Sale = PlantFest
Nancy Pennick, Volunteer PlantFest Chair with daylilies for sale at the plant sale.
GardenFest, Rose Fest and now PlantFest!
We know you like a festive atmosphere, and we love creating one. This year we’ve renamed what has traditionally been known as the Spring Plant Sale, PlantFest, to reflect newly added activities and events. We’re creating a fun day that will encourage you to come select your garden finds from the best regional plant selection, and also allow you to spend some time with us enjoying live music, visiting with other plant lovers and getting to know your local extension agent. Plus, Spring PlantFest falls on Mother’s Day weekend — May 6-7, 2016, so this might just be the perfect outing for mom. Combine your plant sale shopping with a day touring the Garden, sharing children’s activities with your little ones and enjoying our Mother’s Day Weekend Celebration.
Spring PlantFest will have new vendors, vendor demonstrations, music from local artists and food and beverages available for purchase. Bring your knifes and garden tools! We’ll have on-site honing of garden hand tools, knives and scissors by Mr. Leonard’s Sharpening Service. And whether you are from Henrico County, Hanover County, Chesterfield County or the City of Richmond, you can meet your Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent and ask any gardening questions you may have. Look for the all the activities to happen in Parking Lot C — the auxiliary parking area, closest to our entrance.
Karen Clowers, Manager of Volunteers at the Garden explains that PlantFest is presented by Garden volunteers. “They had a vision for how to make the plant sale even better, and I’m helping to make their ideas a reality. It’s going to be really fun! So far we have three musical groups signed up, and in addition to the Garden’s caterer Meriwether Godsey selling food, King of Pops will be selling gourmet, organic popsicles. The volunteers work really hard for months in advance to make this happen and proceeds from the sale benefit the Garden’s educational mission.”
Pat Rooney, Ellen Edmonds and Betsy Slade (left to right) potting and labeling trees for the plant sale.
Longtime Garden Volunteer (and PlantFest Vendor Chair) Helen Blencowe points out that the new location of the sale will be better because it has more space. “I’m excited that we have more room to expand and diversify our vendor involvement as well as help our customers with more room to move about and enjoy the experience.” This means that there will be plenty of room for your shopping wagons folks!
Also, if you need a new pair of gardening gloves, or Mom needs a new gardening knife, we’ve got lots of great tools, and other gardening accouterments in the Garden Shop. Garden Members receive 15 percent off all purchases during our plant sales. The Garden’s plant sales are among the largest in the region with more than 40 vendors selling plants ranging from well-known favorites to rare exotics. Be sure to stay tuned for another blog post about what plants we’ll be highlighting from the Garden’s own collection, and a listing of new and returning vendors.
May 6-7, 2016
Mother’s Day Weekend Celebration
May 6, 7 & 8, 2016