Grow your garden at club’s annual plant sale

Does your green thumb need a little help?

Mark April 7 on the calendar for a chance to jumpstart your garden. On that day, local gardening gurus will share their bounty at the Livermore Amador Valley Garden Club’s annual Plant Sale, held in the parking lot of Amador Valley High School.

“I encourage people to come to the Plant Sale so they can see what gardeners in the area are successful in growing in their gardens,” club co-president Dolores Bengtson said.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. that Saturday, rain or shine, garden club members will sell plants that thrive in their own yards, including flowering ones and edibles. Separate tables will offer annuals and perennials, ground covers, California native plants, house plants, roses, shrubs, trees, vegetables and herbs.

“They may also talk with club members who have ‘hands-on’ experience with plants, ornamentals and edibles in our area,” Bengtson said. “For novice and experienced gardeners alike, it’s a learning opportunity.”

“Of course, we hope you will find plants suitable for your garden to purchase,” she added, “and take time to visit our Gardener’s Boutique to see if you can find that just-perfect flower pot for your patio.”

“We have a lot of pots this time,” she continued. “Some people moving out of the area gave us their pots, which we really appreciate — we scour them up and bring them to the boutique.”

That section will offer garden art, pots and other treasures — all at reasonable prices.

“Bargain-hunters will find that most plants are priced in the $1-$5 range,” co-president Lois Barber said.

Bengtson has been attending plant sales since she joined the club 20 years ago, although she said the club was founded in 1984 and the local sales go way back. She recalled looking at old club meeting minutes stating the sale had yielded a few hundred dollars.

“Now we always put in our budget around $5,000, and that’s a really conservative figure,” she said.

Even last year, the sale made that much despite the stormy weather.

“We had so much rain and wind last time that it was almost humorous,” Bengtson said. “It was one of those events where everyone is pitching in — customers were clutching their plants and holding down the posts to our pop-ups.”

She said she has seen a change over the years in people’s interests.

“People used to be very, very interested in ornamentals and not paying attention to whether they were drought tolerant. Now they are moving into succulents — and into vegetables. A lot of the people come to the plant sale to get veggies,” she said.

“People want to eat healthy and to teach their children to eat healthy and grow their own vegetables. It’s been my observation that when children see something growing, they are much more likely to try it.”

Tomatoes are popular among local gardeners, Bengtson added, because they are easy to grow in a pot.

Although the sale is just one day, preparations begin far in advance.

“Our members have spent months growing plants for this sale,” co-chairman Daniel McCright said.

They prepare according to their different interests. Perennials growers have the sale in mind when their plants need to be divided, Bengtson noted. Gardeners with greenhouses start their seeds aimed at preparing for the sale.

She also mentioned that when plants are hardy, they multiply, and the sale gives gardeners a chance to share the bounty. And this works out well for folks who want to expand and improve their gardens.

“It’s an opportunity for people to get plants that not only do OK in our soil and our climate, but to get them at a reasonable price and try them,” Bengtson said.

Most of the club’s 188 members are involved in the four-hour event, said co-chairman Bill Tallon, adding, “You will recognize the volunteers by the bright green aprons they will be wearing. They will be happy to offer free advice.”

Tallon and his wife Michelle said they are relative newcomers to the club, having joined five or six years ago. They describe their own garden as “eclectic.”

“One side of the yard is pond and woodland, one side is Mediterranean, with grapevines,” Bill Tallon said. “It’s a working garden, with raised planting beds. Michelle started a flat of oregano and also has a flat of basil going.”

Bengtson agreed that club members are generous with their advice.

“The members who work the sale allow people to talk to others here in town that do gardening,” she said. “Some questions we get are very simple, like, ‘What do you do about snails?’ We can answer those questions and give them some hints.”

She said the sales are also social events, similar to a farmers market. Alden Lane Nursery loans its truck to deliver plants to the sale site.

“We’re just hoping we have good weather,” Bengtson said. “And we hope many people come and take advantage of our locally grown plants.”

The sale raises money for the gardening club’s activities in the community, an important part of the club’s mission, which is to encourage home gardening, support better horticultural practices, civic beauty and the conservation of natural resources. (See sidebar.)

Meetings are held at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month, September through May, in the multipurpose room of Alisal Elementary School, 1454 Santa Rita Road, and visitors are welcome. The club also has luncheon meetings on fourth Mondays.

Other interest subgroups meet separately, including seed sharing, floral design and edible plant gardening. The club also offers day tours, overnight tours and annual tours of members’ gardens. Plus it hosts an annual tomato tasting. For more information, go to www.lavgc.org.

But first, check out the Plant Sale on April 7 — for additions to your garden and for information and inspiration. Amador Valley High is located at 1155 Santa Rita Road.

Gardeners give

The Livermore Amador Valley Garden Club provides the following services to the community, funded by proceeds from the plant sale:

* Arbor Day assemblies for more than 900 Pleasanton second-grade students.

* Free seed packets at Pleasanton and Livermore libraries, collected and packaged by members.

* Maintenance of public gardens, including the Sensory Gardens in Pleasanton’s Centennial Park and the rose garden at Hansen Park in Livermore.

* Donation of vegetables raised at Eden Garden in Livermore to neighbors in need.

* Assistance with the gardens at Camp Arroyo, which serves children with life-threatening illnesses, as well as weeklong, live-in environmental education programs for school children from the area.