Local gardeners are busy potting plants in preparation for the return of the New Westminster Horticultural Society’s garden sale.
Audrey Barnes, a longtime member of the society, said the group is thrilled to be welcoming the gardening community back to the popular plant sale.
“When you come to our sale, it’s like going to a thrift store – you never know what you are going to find,” she said. “It’s a treasure hunt.”
The New Westminster Horticultural Society’s plant sale is taking place on Saturday, May 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (earlier if plants sell out) at St. Thomas More Collegiate. It’s located just across the border at 7450 12th Ave., right off of Kingsway.
The group’s last sale, held in 2019 near the front entrance to the old New Westminster Secondary School, was cleaned out of plants around 2 p.m. Club members were already working on plants for the 2020 sale when COVID caused its cancellation.
“In 2020 when COVID hit, we had sort of private sales at a couple of people’s gardens because people had started a whole bunch of things from seed. You had to make an appointment. It was very limited,” Barnes said. “In 2021 we didn’t have it.”
But Barnes said members have been busy potting plants in preparation for the return of the sale.
“When we divide plants from our gardens, we are potting up plants that have proven to grow well in our climatic conditions,” she noted. “Often, nursery plants just don't make it when exposed to the harsh realities of being planted in a garden.”
Because gardeners won’t be dropping off plants until the morning of the sale, it’s hard to say exactly what plants will be for sale but shoppers will find annuals, perennials, tomatoes, groundcovers and ferns in the mix.
Barnes is confident there will be a “fantastic” selection of plants at this year’s sale.
“We are potting these up now,” Barnes said. “Some people potted up last year thinking there might be a sale. Those ones are relatively well rooted. These ones are relatively new divisions – they have good roots but they are not grown-for-a-year-for-the-sale plants. They are not super established but they have good roots.”
The sale is cash only – and deals are to be expected.
“Our prices, normally we aim for about two-thirds of retail price because we only have one day to get rid of it,” Barnes said.
Even those the sale is taking place outside, masks are recommended – but they are optional.
“People have to be prepared that there will be other people there who may not be wearing a mask because it is outdoors,” Barnes said.
Helping gardeners and students
The plant sale raises funds to support the club that was established in 1934. It allows the club to make a donation to the BC Council of Garden Clubs scholarship trust fund, which gives bursaries to horticultural schools in B.C.
“We always do that. It depends how much we make and how much we need,” Barnes said. “We have had no income for two years.”
Memberships in the New Westminster Horticultural Society, which include 10% off at Gardenworks and some other nurseries, were given out for free in 2020 and 2021 because the group wasn’t meeting. Although group members didn’t meet in-person for two years, they still communicated via a Facebook page, email and a newsletter.
April 2022 marked the group’s first meeting since the start of the pandemic.
“We are meeting in person,” Barnes said. “Unless you are eating, people had to have masks. And we did not have as many chairs out. Normally we have 100, but the chairs were spaced out a little bit more.”
For more information about the society, go to www.newwesthortsociety.org (but note that the website hasn’t been updated to show that the plant sale is taking place and in-person meetings have resumed). You can also email [email protected] for more information.
Follow Theresa McManus on Twitter @TheresaMcManus
Email [email protected]
