Fall Plant Sale a Huge Success
The fall plant sale at the Laguna-CNPS nursery saw over 500 people between the member only sale on Friday and the public sale on Saturday. No one was deterred by cool, overcast skies threatening rain, or the solar eclipse that could be seen periodically through the clouds at the beginning of the sale on Saturday. Sales were brisk and of the 2000 plants our nursery volunteer team propagated, potted up, tended and groomed, all were sold but a very few. Those remaining were donated to two school gardens and to April Owens’ Habitat Corridor Project.
The plants looked gorgeous this year and many were in bloom; monkey flower, fuchsias, coyote mint, yarrow, wooly sunflower, all beckoned to the many shoppers looking to fill their gardens with our wonderful selection of native perennials, shrubs, ferns, grasses, vines, and trees. Merchandise sales of t-shirts, books, posters, yard signs, and our own “Sonoma County Native Gardener”, along with the seed and bulb table offerings were strong. Net sales were $22,075, an increase of $2,542 over fall 2022, supporting our operations and our important scholarship programs.
Kudos to our partner, Laguna Foundation, for an excellent parking system, refined over two years of plant sale experience, and thanks to the Agios, the dairy farmers, who accommodated us by moving their cows from the south field so we had space for all those cars.
A big thanks to:
Betty Young, without whose vision, guidance and management of the nursery there would be no sale.
The nursery volunteers who brave all sorts of weather during to year to make sure our plants grow beautifully: Betty Young, Cindy Tancreto, Deborah Dobish, Denise Kelly, Jan Lochner, Judith Rousseau, Kristi Cain, Liz Parsons, Louise Riedel, Lynnette Bower, Marcia Johnson, Michelle Karle, Patricia Sesser, Penny Dalton, Wendy Born (who also grows the ferns we sell) Wendy Smit, and our newest nursery volunteer, Jack James, who is now a board-member-at-large. And a special shout-out to Lynnette Bower who works side-by-side with Betty Young to manage the nursery, propagates in her home nursery and is an inveterate seed collector. Lynnette has offered to manage the spring sale in 2024, Yeah Lynnette!
Liz Parsons, Plant Sale Chair emeritus, who designed the Fall 2023 plant sale flyer and gave an interview about the plant sale on Garden Talk, KSRO radio. April Owens, of Habitat Corridor, whose client’s native plant garden was featured in the Press Democrat’s Saturday garden section written by Meg McConahey, where the plant sale was advertised.
Wendy Smit for making sure the notice of the plant sale was listed in local news publications, the State CNPS website and on social media, and to Judith Rousseau for distributing plant sale flyers all over Sonoma County and translating the flyer to Spanish.
Patricia Sesser and Cindy Trancreto, who wrangled all the volunteers for both days of the sale.
Karen Thompson who deftly manages the cashiers and talliers. Louise Riedel who took on the task of managing seed and bulb packaging, labeling, organizing and selling. Erika Erzberger and Judith Rousseau, displaying and selling Milo Baker merchandise. Susan Dean, who convinced many a non-member to join.
And last but not least, all the volunteers both Friday and Saturday who make the plant sale such a huge success, and an annual not-to-be-missed event:
Patricia Sesser, April Owens, Betty Young, Bryan Sesser, Cindy Tancreto, Denise Kelly, Erika Erzberger, Jack James, John Dean, Judith Rousseau, Linda Widdifield, Louise Riedel, Lynnette Bower, Michelle Karle, Nick Bower, Penny Dalton, Sandy Martinson, Terry Loveton, Wendy Born, Wendy Krupnick, Ann Howald, Deborah Dobish, Heidi Hermann, Helen Howard, Jane Valerius, Keala Peterson, Leah Harmon, Liz Parsons, Lynn Houser, Pat Chan, Patty Mojar, Ruthie Saia, Sharon Bouton, Sherry Adams, Theresa Wistrom, and Tim McKeough and Celeste Murad, who provided sandwiches to all the volunteers.
Many, many thanks!
Natasha Granoff, Plant Sale Chair