Shoppers have a variety of choices at the annual Master Gardeners Plant Sale

[May 24, 2023]    Saturday, May 20th while the new season at the LMH Market was underway on the north end of the exhibit barns at the Logan County Fairground in Lincoln, the south end was abuzz with shoppers at the annual Master Gardner Plant Sale.

The plant sale is an annual tradition in the community and a long-standing fundraiser for the Master Gardeners of Logan County. The plants are donated by the Master Gardner membership and the proceeds of the sale go directly to the program.

On Saturday there were several volunteers on hand to assist Customers including Vince Long, Jim Struebing, and University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator Jennifer Fishburn. Long, Struebing and Fishburn were working among the shoppers, answering questions, and helping shoppers to gain more knowledge of gardening and the plants they were seeing.

Struebing said this year, a lot of what was being offered for sale were plants that he had grown at his home in New Holland. Struebing has a deep interest in perennials and in native plants, or those that would have been found on the Illinois Prairie prior to civilization.

Fishburn was working around the room, helping customers decide on specific plant types. She stopped to help a couple figure out what tomato plants they needed for their garden, their vegetable needs such as fresh or something to can or make into salsa.

It was Long’s smiling face that greeted shoppers as they entered the far south barn. He was also manning the table filled with pamphlets and educational materials to assist shoppers in learning about gardening and how to take care of their soil and their harvest.

In the barn next door, other volunteers were on hand to assist with the check out process and had a few gardening accessories such as garden gloves for sale.

The plants were being offered at very low prices. Each plant had a colored marker in it. The color indicated what the price of the plant would be.

Plants were being offered in a range from $0.50 to $7 each.

While there were several shoppers on hand early in the morning, there were still a lot of plants left on the tables. Struebing said the heart’s desire for the day would be to see all the plants sold to happy gardeners.

[Nila Smith]