Master Gardeners to sell multitude of starts

The young plants — thousands of them — need homes in Clallam and Jefferson counties. So for the next 20 days, flowers, vegetables, herbs and shrubs will go on sale, online, in two nonprofit plant sales.

The Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation’s event is open today through May 6 at jcmgf.org.

The Clallam County Master Gardeners’ sale starts this Saturday and will run through May 15 at clallammgf.org.

Jefferson’s sale was initially expected to offer 5,000 plants, “but it’s actually going to be 7,000,” said Master Gardener Candice Gohn.

She was chest-deep in foliage last Friday as she prepared products for online selection.

The plants, which sell at an average price of $4 each, range from geraniums to fruit trees to heirloom tomatoes.

Master Gardener Bill Scott couldn’t help himself, Gohn said, and grew 700 tomato plants for the sale. He’s one of 23 master gardeners who have amassed the inventory, most of it from seeds planted last winter.

Curbside pickup of plant orders in the Jefferson County sale will take place at the Tri-Area Food Bank, 760 Chimacum Road, Port Hadlock, on May 15.

In Clallam County, the Woodcock Demonstration Garden, 2711 Woodcock Road north of Sequim, is plant sale headquarters. Online ordering will open at 8 a.m. this Saturday and run for 11 days, to close at 4 p.m. May 11.

Shoppers can then pick up their purchases at the Woodcock garden — by appointment — either Friday, May 14, or Saturday, May 15.

Clallam’s event is compact, with about 500 plant starts for sale, while planters and new and used garden merchandise are also available.

The plant selection includes master gardener-grown vegetable and herb starts, perennials, natives, succulents and house plants, priced at $2 to $5 per plant start.

At the Woodcock garden, people can be assured that COVID-19 safety protocols are practiced, organizer Betty Harriman noted.

“People will have the ability to shop, and add to their purchases,” during their scheduled pickup time.

Both plant sales are key fundraisers for many Master Gardener Foundation programs. These include the free online diagnostic plant clinics, at https://extension.wsu.edu/jefferson for Jefferson County and at https://extension.wsu.edu/clallam/mg for Clallam.

Proceeds from the Jefferson sale will fund gardening and composting programs for local schools and nonprofit groups, Gohn added.

In Clallam County, the Master Gardeners Foundation will use sale revenue to cultivate the Woodcock Demonstration Garden in Sequim, the Fifth Street Community Garden in Port Angeles, the Youth Enrichment Program outreach to every second-grader in the county, the Green Thumb lecture series and the Saturday in the Garden presentations.

Shoppers responded with gusto to the Jefferson master gardeners’ online plant sale last year, said organizer Ann Klosterman. That event, the first one done virtually, brought in double the revenue of the in-person sale in 2019.

That popularity, Klosterman believes, was because online shoppers didn’t have to contend with crowds.

“This is the biggest fundraiser we have for the year,” she said, and “a lot of people don’t like to elbow.”

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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.