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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Associated Garden Clubs will hold annual plant sale at Manito Park on April 30-May 1

A large production greenhouse at Manito Park is packed with plants that are just a few days away from being offered for sale to the public.

Plants that can tolerate our current cool nights are lined up outside the greenhouse and are ready to go.

A crew of volunteers has been busy working on these plants for months, potting the smaller ones into larger containers and designing attractive large groupings that would be perfect for a porch or deck or as a hanging basket.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane is holding its annual plant sale in the production area of Manito Park just east of the Gaiser Conservatory.

The sale runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

Proceeds from the sale support community projects and nonprofit organizations.

Norma Gavin, who has been organizing the sale for years, said it dates to 1996.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Linda Miller, treasurer of associated clubs, which is a federation of about 15 smaller garden clubs in the city.

The sale includes annuals, perennials, organic herbs, organic tomatoes and other vegetable starts and house plants. The house plants were started as cuttings from the collection inside the conservatory.

“We have more herbs than we’ve had before,” volunteer Kathy Temple said.

Gavin said she likes the sale to be on the front edge of gardening trends, including her selections of colors and textures for her specialty containers.

Many of the larger arrangements are potted in attractive ceramics. They have proven to be popular in past years.

“Norma works so hard putting the right flower, the right color and the right texture together,” said Temple, one of about 15 regular volunteers.

Among the group is Ilse Miller, 85, who was happily putting plants into larger pots last week, using a mound of potting soil on the bench in front of her.

“It’s therapy for these ladies,” Gavin said.

Production techniques that are being used are considered organic. “We don’t use pesticides on any of our plants,” Gavin said.

The effort has been a collaboration with the Spokane parks department, which helped with starts of popular annuals such as petunias and geraniums along with the conservatory cuttings. The greenhouse space is also part of the cooperation from parks.

The sale this year will have a holding area so customers can browse and set aside plants to browse some more.

A pickup area is also being arranged so purchasers can retrieve their vehicles and pull up to load their selections, Gavin said.

In past years, the plant sale had leftover stock, which Gavin took to her home in south Spokane and put up for sale in a second public offering.

She said she hopes to avoid that extra work this year, and with any luck, good weather will help draw out more gardeners and other shoppers.