It is officially spring, and that means the Big Country Master Gardener Association Spring Plant Sale is almost here!
Last week was a busy, but exciting, time for Master Gardeners as we prepared for this annual event. We came through another summer of record-breaking high temperatures and dry conditions, and many trees, shrubs, and plants that had been weakened by the previous couple of harsh winters and summers were unable to survive last year’s heat and drought. BCMGA will be ready to help with plants that will survive – and thrive – in the Big Country so your landscape will be beautiful and enjoyable again.
All the plants available for the Spring Plant Sale will be advertised online, allowing you to see and learn about the plants, make your selections, and pay for the plants. You can place your order online April 10, April 11, and until noon on April 12. You will be given a time to pick up your order on the afternoon of April 12 between 2:00 and 6:00 at the Modern Living Mall on the Expo Center grounds.
On Saturday, April 13, we will have an in-person sale from 8:00-1:00 in the Modern Living Mall – like we have had for years. During the sale on Saturday, you will have the opportunity to shop in person to purchase plants left after the online sale ended.
We will have plants in all categories available for purchase – annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs, succulents, grasses, herbs, vegetables, etc. The plants selected for the sale are cultivars that do well in our hot, dry West Texas climate, but we also looked for plants that survived the freezing temperatures we had the last couple of years.
Here are some of the plants we will have:
- Flame Acanthus – Anisacanthus. This is a familiar and hardy perennial; we will have the Dark Orange/Red variety.
- Daylily – Hemerocallis. These are wonderful additions to the landscape, and we will have several varieties available for sale.
- Salvias – Salvia greggii, Salvia farinacea, Salvia microphylla, Salvia romeriana, and Salvia nemerosa. There will be several varieties and colors of salvias available to provide you with hardy, easily grown pollinator plants for your landscape.
- Bee Balm – Monarda. These plants add a lot of color to the landscape, and the flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
- Yarrow – Achillea. There will be several colors available in this low-maintenance plant. It loves full sun, doesn’t need to be fertilized, and has an extremely low water requirement.
- Hosta. The varieties that will be available include red, yellow with green edge, green with yellow edge, tall green, and dwarf.
- Turk’s Cap – Malvaviscus. We will have both red and pink Turk’s Cap.
- Jerusalem Sage – Phlomis fruticose. This is a great perennial for our area.
- Lantana – Lantana montevidensis. This is another very hardy plant, and we will have New Gold, Trailing Lavender, and Trailing White varieties.
- Annuals. There will be a variety of annuals to provide lots of color in your landscape during the spring, summer, and into the fall. Some examples are dianthus, geraniums, impatiens, pentas, and vinca.
- Vegetables. We will have a variety of vegetable plants ready to be put in your garden.
Please watch the Big Country Master Gardener Association website and Facebook page for the list of available plants as well as for information about the online and in-person sale. This is a great opportunity to purchase plants that will do well in our area.
The Big Country Master Gardener Association will have an educational program on Big Country Plants at 10:00 on April 12 at the Abilene Public Library downtown location. We will have the Master Gardener Saturday Seminar on propagation from 9:00 to 12:00 on April 27 in the Modern Living Mall on the Expo Fairgrounds, and there will be hands-on projects in addition to the training.
If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com. We hope you will visit our Facebook page as well as our website at bcmgtx.org for all Big Country Master Gardener information and events.
