Madison County Master Gardener A

The 2007 Master Gardener's Garden Fest Plant Sale is always an anticipated event and gardeners line up at the door early to await the 9:00 a.m. opening. This year, as always, there were rows and rows of tables nicely covered in white plastic and lined with thousands of plants of different shapes and sizes the MG's had sown from seed and/or potted from their gardens for this annual spring sale. Some of the varieties were daylilies, verbena, summer poinsettias, primrose, cosmos, long needle pines, sedums, shasta daisies, angel trumpet, bacopa, phlox, and woodruff, as well as others less known. It's always a delight to see what the MG's are going to offer and also to take advantage of the wonderful prices!

The volunteers begin setting up on Thursday and by Saturday morning are putting the finishing touches on their work before the crowds begin to line up. Once the doors are open, it's fun to see the enthusiasm of the buyers as they find that long sought "treasure" or fill their arms with a week's worth of work but a lifetime's worth of enjoyment. By 11:00 a.m. there were only six small tables left with the remnants of the sale, and lots of happy buyers were on their way home to look over their prizes.

Angie Phenis, Committee Chair, thanked everyone who had worked so hard to make this year's event another successful sale. The funds are used each year for the group's scholarship program and other committee programs.