Plant sales help usher in spring

All year the Wiregrass Master Gardener Association has been getting ready.

Members have been digging up plants from local gardens and propagating them. They’ve been growing other plants from seeds in the group’s green house at the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens, nursing them along the way and moving them to bigger and bigger containers.

“We have our fun playing in the dirt a whole year getting ready,” said Ralph Byram, a member of the local master gardener’s association. “ ... It is really hobby and relaxation, but it certainly is a lot of hard work, too.”

The group’s annual spring sale will be held April 3 and April 4 at the Houston County Extension office. If that’s not enough plant shopping, the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens will hold its annual plant sale Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28.

Both sales will feature a variety of annuals, perennials, aquatic plants, vines, shrubs and trees.

The master gardener’s sale will have several types of vegetable plants including four varieties of heirloom tomatoes along with peppers, squash and cucumber. Common herbs such as basil, parsley and fennel will be available for purchase along with a few varieties not as common in the Wiregrass — borage, fenugreek and black cumin to name a few.

Local favorites like native honeysuckle, oakleaf hydrangea and crape myrtles will also be found at the master gardener’s sale as will container gardens and hanging baskets.

Proceeds from the sale are used by the group to educate the public and provide grants to other nonprofit organizations.

“We offer really good products at lower prices,” Byram said. “ ... We really do try to have better quality plants.”

The 70-member master gardener’s association also provides plants for the annual sale held by the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens, which will be held Friday and Saturday at the garden’s site on Headland Avenue. The Friday event is a preview sale for members of the botanical gardens. Saturday’s sale will be open for members and nonmembers.

“You can get a lot for your money,” said Larry Dykes, a volunteer with the botanical gardens.

Unlike the master gardener’s, the botanical gardens sells plants from wholesale nurseries. Truckloads started coming in last week, including about 25 different varieties of hydrangeas. Dykes said visitors will be able to shop for plenty of landscape plants such as azaleas and bridal wreath.

“The prices are good and competitive,” Dykes said.

Lantana, Japanese magnolias, oleander and water irises are some the items that will be for sale at the botanical gardens along with knockout roses and a selection of herbs. Proceeds from the sale benefit the botanical gardens.

“I think we’re going to have pretty much anything anybody wants and maybe some things people don’t know they want,” Dykes said.
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Dothan Area Botanical Gardens spring plant sale
When: Friday and Saturday, March 27-28
Where: Dothan Area Botanical Gardens on Headland Avenue
Times: Friday for garden members only, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a $10 fee to shop; Saturday for general public, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. No charge to shop on Saturday.
Other: Visit http://www.dabg.com for complete plant list

Wiregrass Master Gardener Association spring sale
When: Friday and Saturday, April 3-4
Where: Parking lot of the Houston County Extension office on the grounds of the Houston County Farm Center at Ross Clark Circle and Cottonwood Road.
Times: April 3, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; April 4, 8 a.m. to noon
Other: No charge to shop; open both days to general public.