Holiday Native Plant Sale

On November 12th, the Jackson County Master Gardener™ Association held a Holiday Gala and Native Plant Sale at SOREC. Our Native Plant Nursery was open for plant shopping, and the auditorium had holiday crafts and gifts for sale.

Even in November, our nursery made $1,117. Not bad for it being so late in the year, although fall is the best time to plant shrubs, trees and most perennials. Setting up a plant sale on campus is easy. Since the weather was cold, we put the pay station in Greenhouse 2 and added some space heaters to keep our volunteers warm. Not having to transport plants from our site is a huge plus. We merely need to put out the sale and information signs and let folks wander the nursery space to select their plants.

Of course, there is always pre-planning for any sale. A volunteer roster must be made, and volunteers scheduled and contacted with reminders. Our Square card reader must be set up, with someone working who knows how to use that. I keep a plant sale checklist to be sure I have money for change, all the signs and prices in place, cashboxes on hand, etc. Chairs and tables need to be in place for the volunteers – although in November we already had tables in the Greenhouse, so we just needed stools and chairs for workers.

The weather cooperated. Though it was cold, we had no rain and folks were able to shop leisurely. We had some concerns about foot and auto traffic but had no problems with either of those. Sales happened mostly between 9 am and noon, which is good information for us for future pop-up sales planning.

Finally, none of this could have been possible without the hard work of all our nursery volunteers. Hugs and many thanks to all who worked in the weeks and days leading up to, and on, our successful day.