A wheelbarrow didn’t seem big enough for the flowering bounty at the annual Giant Plant Sale held last weekend to benefit American in Bloom Santa Paula Chapter and Santa Clara Valley Hospice-Home Support Group.

Giant Plant Sale! Marigolds,
tomatoes only leftovers of weekend event

May 01, 2015
Santa Paula News

Thousands of plants went home with hundreds of people during the weekend’s Giant Plant Sale benefiting America in Bloom Santa Paula Chapter and Santa Clara Valley Hospice-Home Support Group.

The deals offered on the variety of plants offered at the former Ford dealership on Hallock Drive filled the arms of shoppers and threatened to spill over the sides of wheelbarrows. 

The April 25-26 sale featured hundreds of varieties of flowers, herbs, spices and other plants, thousands of containers big and small filled with whatever the heart of a gardener desires. There were flowers ready to plant or ready to go in easy to display hanging baskets and herbs in tiny pots.

Gary Nasalroad of AIB and Hospice said several tables of drought tolerant succulents sold out “Almost immediately…we put them out and someone came by and took both tables!”

Another top-seller was geraniums, huge plants that soon left a larger looking empty space.

Cathy Barringer, a founder of Hospice, said the event would not have been possible without volunteers: “We couldn’t do this, no one could do this without all the wonderful help,” that stepped forward to transport and unload plants, mark each with sale prices, prepare buy sheets for a quick check-out and then paid a cashier.

All were volunteers from Alex Flores Future Farmers of America group to supporters of Hospice and America in Bloom.

Many shoppers were pleased at the new venue at the former Ford dealership, now owned by ARP and its use donated to the groups for their sale, while others said they also preferred the cooler weather and overcast skies.

“I can go right home and start planting!” said Katie Brown of Fillmore, who was buying about a dozen Wave petunias — “My absolute favorite” — in a variety of colors.

The selection included annuals, perennial, pots, six-packs and more; compost was handy so customers wouldn’t run out of environmentally friendly earth that retains moisture.

DoRight’s Plant Nursery, Dummen Group, Plant Haven, Ball Horticulture, Green Fuse and Recology donated the plants and other garden must-haves for the sale.

Flowers are a practical choice even for dark drought days: they are water efficient whether planted in the ground or in pots and brighten up the mood of all that view them, even if the expanse of lawn is turning brown.

Nasalroad noted that about half the stock was sold out in the first three hours of the opening day of the sale.

Dudley, who with his wife Dianne founded America in Bloom and own DoRight’s, agreed that they could have used more plants for the sale: “The only thing that was leftover,” he noted, “was marigolds — and tomatoes!





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