Perfect weather produced a large turnout of customers Saturday for the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden’s annual Plant Sale & Gardeners Market.
Attendees had plenty of plants to chose from, as native and non-native perennials, herbs, tomato plants and numerous other varieties filled several tables for the master gardeners’ sale, while there were plenty of other plant varieties, along with several crafts, to be found among the numerous vendors that lined the garden’s grounds.
“The crowd has been great; and thank goodness the sun is out today,” said Cathy Schmitt, co-chair of the event for the Kentucky Extension Master Gardeners and a former Kentucky Master Gardener of the Year. “We’ve worked hard on this. We never had vendors until I went to a meeting and saw other places do it, and its just made it a much better event.”
Proceeds from all sales by the master gardeners, other than tomato and pepper plants, benefit the botanical garden.
Schmitt said the quality of the plants offered for sale topped previous years.
“Our growers gave us much better plants than we’ve been able to get in the past,” said Schmitt, who was pleased to see so many people buying native plants. “We’ve sold a lot of natives, which we are really encouraging people (to do), because pollinators, the bees, the butterflies, do better since they are host plants. But you just never know what people want.”
Regenia Sims, co-chair of the event and past president of the master gardeners, said the event was “wonderful.”
“We’ve got so many new gardeners and experienced gardeners, and they’re sharing native plants with the world, which is always wonderful,” she said. “(Customers) were lined up with boxes and boxes of plants.”
Joyce Riney, president of the Green River Area Extension Master Gardeners chapter and the current Kentucky Master Gardener of the Year, was thrilled with the turnout.
“It’s great; we’ve emptied so many tables, and we don’t have a herb left,” she said. “I think we’ve become more knowledgable about native plants.”
Anna Weber, owner of Anna Weber’s Creations in Owensboro, offered an array of floral wreaths, among other items, at her booth.
“The crowd is good,” said Weber, who had seen a steady stream of shoppers. “It’s average for me. I’ve had a lot of lookers.”
Madison Love, an Owensboro native who owns River Blossoms Flower Farm and Raye’s Flowers in Leitchfield, was back at the event for a third time with her array of flowers.
“It’s going really good; we really really love it,” Love said. “We do a lot of house plants, and at our flower farm we focus on tulips. We grow about 25,000 tulips every year, and our florist carries a lot of houseplants, so we kind of have a mix here every year.”
Love said she enjoys the fellowship with other master gardeners.
“I really enjoy the women,” she said, “and I just think it’s a great thing for the community to get involved in.”