

SPRINGFIELD –The Springfield Garden Club's annual plant sale is a perennial favorite among gardeners.

"People love the variety of plants available, the fact that most of them do come from members' gardens, the personal information and enthusiasm they get about each plant from the person who brought it in and the very personal one-on-one answers they get to their gardening questions," said Judy Cmero, the club's publicity chairman.

This year's sale will take place Saturday, May 30, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at The Quadrangle at the Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards St.

"It's just a lot of fun for people to 'talk gardens' with our members who love to share their knowledge and experience with gardeners of all skill levels," Cmero said. "It's one way we help others appreciate and feel comfortable with the world of plants and flowers."

The plant sale will offer a wide selection of annuals, perennials, herbs, shrubs and baskets plus a vintage garden boutique and an auction of prime plants.

Over the years Jamie W. Risley-Hall, Springfield Garden Club president, has contributed many different perennials from her home gardens including heucheras, Solomon's seal, painted fern, lady's mantle, monarda, sedum, anise hyssop, astilbe, coneflower, daisy and creeping phlox as well as black raspberry and lilac shrubs.

Because this plant sale is one of the later ones on the spring calendar, members are able to offer slightly more established, more leafed out plants than earlier sales may have, and by the time of sale, the weather is right for the plants to go immediately into the garden, Cmero noted.

"The garden club plant sale is an excellent place to find healthy, locally grown, garden plants," said Janet N. Dolder who has been in the garden club since 2007. "Many of our members are collectors, and if you come early you can find unusual plants at very reasonably prices, often up to 30 percent less than you would pay at a garden center."

Because the sale has been so well attended in the past, shoppers are encouraged to arrive early for the best selection and the best deals.

"This annual sale allows me the joy of sharing my 'perennial babies' with others, combined with the thinning of my own beds which is always a good practice for them anyway," Risley-Hall said. "It's so wonderful to share and not just toss the extra plants into a compost pile and to enjoy the peace of mind that you are helping a wonderful organization to keep going, to be able to offer a scholarship or two to local college students each year and to continue to create interest in the art of gardening."

If you go

Event:

Springfield Garden Club annual plant sale

When:

Saturday, May 30, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Where:

The Quadrangle at the Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards St., Springfield

Benefit:

Springfield Garden Club

For more information:

By phone at (413) 599-0911 or by e-mail at efrantiska@charter.net

Proceeds go to the garden club's scholarship fund, which supports students studying horticulture, conservation or landscaping as well as to the club's various community outreach projects such as flower distribution to area nursing homes, garden therapy floral arranging at nursing homes and the promotion of civic beauty such as assisting with plantings in the area, including the Springfield Museums at the Quadrangle.

The Springfield Garden Club has 104 members.

"After such a long and snowy winter, we are all hungry to burst out of hibernation, feel the sunshine, see green and colors outside, clean up our yards, work in our gardens and revel in being outside again," Cmero said.



For more information about the plant sale, contact Eileen Frantiska at (413) 599-0911 or efrantiska@charter.net.

For more information about the garden club or any club program, contact Judy Cmero at (413) 599-0462 or SpringfieldGardenClubMA@gmail.com.