Friday, September 13, 2013

Pre-Sale Excitement Prevails


We had a successful Members Only Pre-Sale for the Fall Plant Sale today and saw steady traffic throughout the day (9 am - 4 pm).  We had quite a crunch in the morning with a strong focus on mums.  However, lots of plants could be seen walking out of the sale and we were happy with the overall amount of plants sold.  We even had some visitors become new members right at the sale so they could shop and get the 10% discount (which extends over the entire sale both tomorrow and Sunday).  Dr. Gredler can be seen above transferring some mums the best way he knows how right to his car.  He also did some serious mowing out in the gardens as did Bill O.  There were many volunteers helping throughout the three shifts for the plant sale and I'd like to offer a collective "thank you" to all the good helpers.  It would be tough to name them all but we sure had a wonderful collective effort.  Some of the more photogenic volunteers are featured below.  Everyone was in orange vests but below are Ron Y. (left) with his own vest (not quite regulation orange) and Ron W. (center) who brought his own orange vest.  Ron W. was a huge help greeting everyone coming in to the sale.  He also encouraged new memberships for those that wanted to shop immediately and weren't current members.  The handsome couple on the right (photo below) are Kathy and Tom Hoffman from Jenka Blossoms.  They are great folks, now retired from the nursery business, and are the ones that generously donated three small greenhouses to the gardens last fall (much appreciated).  They also did some damage in the sale and the back of their truck can be seen further below!


Marleen's famous smile (and pigtails!) amongst the shrubberies
Kristine Z. wore her Home Depot smock right to the sale
wagon boy Ron W.
our third shift checkout ladies (Olive, Judy, Elaine, Joy, Karen and Judy from left to right)
perennials for shade still abound
a wide range of shrubs await their new landscapes
Tom & Kathy's colorful medley of mums and more mums and asters directly below...

Janice did a great job organizing and managing the sale today.  With two shift changes and many volunteers coming in, it takes a real knack for coordination and everything went well.  Of course, the gardens still needed attention and Big John and Cindy spent their time in the gardens proper as we have a busy weekend and two garden weddings tomorrow.  Big John was in for a half day and set up sprinklers, ran irrigation and push mowed.  Cindy had a very busy day of hand watering many areas, doing the cutting display and working through watering our many containers.  I gave her a hand watering at the end but she sure did her share today.  With Terry and Pat off and Janice and I in the sale, it was a lean crew in the gardens but they did well.  We also had garden help from Kay who continued tidying in the entrance garden and always does an impressive job.  Below are some neat shots from Marsha (thanks for sharing!) taken in the 'Pollinator's Paradise" theme in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden.  Tomorrow, the sale continues.... :)

from Marsha (cute tongue dangling there!)
from Marsha (thanks!)

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