The Red Deer & District Garden Club is looking for unwanted plants for its annual Spring Plant Sale and Exchange at Kerry Wood Nature Centre on May 26.
Extra perennials, annuals or houseplants are all welcome. Plants must be potted and labelled with the plant’s name and sun or shade preference.
“Instead of throwing them away, you can rehome your plants. At a time when we’re looking to be greener and more responsible, that’s a good way to go,” said club member and sale organizer Kelly Beauchamp.
“You can also find new and interesting plants sometimes. Every year is different. Last year, we had a lot of tomato plants that came in.”
For every two potted plants brought in, people get a ticket that allows them to choose one plant to take home. Plants are also $3 each, cash only. Rare or exceptional plants may cost more.
Beauchamp said good weather on the day of the sale usually means a busy event, and there will be lots of club members there to answer questions about the available plants.
“You get them a lot cheaper than at a nursery. They’re not great, big plants for the most part, but it’s a good way to get some variety in your garden, try out some new things for a reasonable price,” Beauchamp said.
The only plants not accepted at the sale are invasive species.
Invasive species include creeping bellflower, oxeye daisy, clematis yellow tangutica and Himalayan balsam, and more.
The plant sale will also not accept chives, lily of the valley, goutweed and common yarrow, as they are aggressive plants.
Ken Lehman, ecological services operations co-ordinator with city parks, said city staff monitor both residential and public land for invasive plants.
“We start late April and we have quite an aggressive monitoring program that is looking for any of these species that are provincially designated as noxious or prohibited noxious,” Lehman said.
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Plants for the sale must be dropped off from 10:30 a.m. to noon and the sale runs from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Kerry Wood Nature Centre, 6300 45th Ave.
Proceeds from the sale go to Red Deer & District Garden Club and Kerry Wood Nature Centre.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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