After thirteen years of hosting their annual plant sale in Juneau, Wisconsin, the Dodge County Master Gardener Club has outgrown their original location and will be moving to the Dodge County Fairgrounds.  The Fourteenth Annual Master Gardener Plant Sale will be held on Saturday, May 20 from 8:00 am until Noon.  Admission is free to attendees and plenty of free parking is available.  The event will be held indoors inside of the Youth Building.

Kim Fay, Master Gardener Volunteer and Plant Sale Committee Chairperson, noted that the additional space at the Fairgrounds will offer more room to display the wide variety of plants and will provide easy access for attendees and volunteers to browse the sale.  This will be a wonderful opportunity to purchase reasonably-priced plants for inside your home or for your spring landscaping projects.

A wide assortment of plants grown in the upper-Midwest will be available for purchase.  Shoppers will be able to browse an assortment of indoor house plants, some annuals, as well as many perennial outdoor plants.  An assortment of succulents, native plants, grasses and some heirloom vegetables will be on display.

The varieties will depend on current conditions.  However, past perennials offered include peonies, ornamental grasses, and day, trumpet and asiatic lilies.  Succulents included tall sedum and hen and chicks, aster, coreopsis, coneflower, ferns, hostas, a variety of irises, coral bells, anemone, lavender, lambs ear, Jacobs ladder, cranesbill, phlox, yarrow, shasta daisy and bluebells.  Native plants, such as columbine, lupine, woodland phlox and wild ginger have been sold at past plant sales.

Dependent on conditions, several Master Gardeners, specializing in edible plants, will be donating grapevines, strawberries, heirloom tomato plants and rhubarb.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own wagons for transportation.  Boxes will be available to transport items and the local FFA (Future Farmers of America) chapter has offered to transport heavy and bulky items to vehicles.

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Rain barrels will also be on site for purchase.  A local Master Gardener will donate his time and materials to construct the barrels.  The barrels are easy to install and the paint color may be matched to the color of your home.  A rain barrel is a large container that connects to your home’s downspout.  Rain is collected and stored for future use when watering flowers, bushes, trees or washing vehicles or your home.  Rain water is a better option for watering ornamental plants, due to its naturally-soft nature and it does not contain the chlorine or minerals present in other forms of water.

Master Gardeners will be on hand at the sale to answer any gardening questions.  Master Gardeners are also available for questions via the Dodge County Master Gardener Helpline at 920-386-3790 or [email protected].  The Dodge County Master Gardener Association, in conjunction with UW-Extension, also offers assistance and advice on Tuesdays from 9:00-Noon and Thursday afternoons from 1:00-4:00 at 127 E. Oak Street, Room E.

All proceeds from the plant sale will benefit the ongoing educational mission of the Dodge County Master Gardeners Association and the local community.  Some of the ongoing projects include a pollinator garden, food pantry garden, community gardens, downtown container plant displays, horticultural student scholarships and the youth master gardener programs at various schools in the Dodge County area.

Additional resources include the UW-Extension Master Gardener Program and The Dodge County Master Gardener Association.

by Jamie Adcock author of runningdivamom.com and sunprairiemom.com