Our Most Important Funding Event of the Year
Our Spring Plant Sale is the driving force behind what we can do for our community. Funds from this event allow us to provide free educational classes to the public, maintain our five demonstration gardens throughout Lewis county and our youth education program.
Creating an event of this magnitude for just one weekend per year requires a lot of effort from our Master Gardener Volunteers. Read below to learn more.
2026 Spring Plant Sale May 16 -17
Save the Date! This mid-spring community tradition is the official kick-off to gardening season—shoppers will find a great variety of native plants, veggie and herb seedlings, and perennial plants shrubs and trees. Every year is a bit different, as most of the plants are grown and/or donated by Master Gardeners. There is also a raffle of hand made gardening related items as well as locally made wood crafts and glass garden art. Proceeds from the Plant Sale support the numerous Master Gardener community education services we provide.
The process begins with growing as many sale plants as we can.
Starting thousands of plants from seeds, cuttings and divisions
In the fall the year before the next plant sale volunteers begin the process digging and dividing plants for next year’s plant sale. We take cuttings from existing plants, divide bulbs and grasses. Then starting in February through mid April we begin planting thousands of plants from seed, timed so that they are the right size for planting when the plant sale arrives. We use our yards , greenhouses and even window sills in our homes to nurture the tiny seeds into healthy plants and always using Master Gardeners best growing practices.
It all comes together May 16th & 17th
What it takes to bring you our plant sale
A few days before the BIG plant sale there is a lot of preparation to be done. Setting up metal racking for the veggies, layout and set up of over 60 tables, cashier, raffle area, crafts and traffic control setup all arranged to maximize efficiency.
Then the day before the plant sale volunteers bring in their plants. They come in the back of trucks, in flatbed trailers, horse trailers, pickups and back seats of cars.
Then the process of filling the 12,000’ foot building with plants that will spill out into an outside area reserved for larger plants begins. The tomato plant area contains over 3,000 plants alone. Next, each plant is inspected to make sure it’s healthy and a reasonable price assigned, Plants are then organized onto the tables by type such as annual, perennial, succulents, etc.
On the day of the plant sale a large line of hundreds of customers flows down the length of the building and out toward the road. At last, the doors are opened, and the happy plant hunters are let in to fill their wagons, shopping baskets and arms with all the plants and crafts their hearts desire.