By Jackie Sledge

Big Country Master Gardener Association

It is officially spring, and that means it’s time for the Big Country Master Gardener Association Spring Plant Sale! This year is the 30th anniversary for the Big Country Master Gardener Association, and we are going to take the Plant Sale as an opportunity to celebrate.

On Saturday April 11th, we will have an in-person sale from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 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 PLUS some plants that will be added just for the in-person sale as a way to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Watch for information next week about the in-person Plant Sale plants and special opportunities.

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’ve had the last few years.

Here are some of the plants we will have:

  • Flame Acanthus – Anisacanthus. This is a familiar, hardy perennial; we will have the Dark Orange/Red and Benny’s Gold varieties.
  • Daylily – Hemerocallis. These are wonderful additions to the landscape, and we will have the Purple D’Oro, Stella D’Oro, and Ruby Stella 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.
  • Turk’s Cap – Malvaviscus. We will have beautiful red 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 coleus, cosmos, dianthus, geraniums, impatiens, pentas, and vinca.
  • Vegetables and Herbs. We will have a variety of vegetable and herb plants ready to be put in your garden.

Please watch the Big Country Master Gardener Association Facebook page for the list of available plants as well as online and in-person sale information. There will also be a link to the Spring Plant Sale on our website at bcmgtx.org. This is a great opportunity to purchase plants that will do well in our area.

 

The Big Country Master Gardener Association presents free education programs every month. There is a program at 6:00 p.m. on the 1st Tuesday of the month at the Abilene Public Library South Branch in the Mall of Abilene, and the same program is presented again at 10:00 a.m. on the 2nd Friday of the month at the Abilene Public Library main location. The Friday program at the Downtown Library will be suspended during the next couple of months while preparations are made for the library to move to its new location, but we will still provide the programs at the Mall Library location.  Be sure to check our website to know when the Friday program will be held. We also have a Master Gardener Saturday Seminar from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on the last Saturday of the month from February through August in the Taylor County Extension Office Conference Room.

We are here to help you.  If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at bcmgardeners@yahoo.com.  We hope you will visit our Facebook page, our website at bcmgtx.org, and the BCMGA YouTube channel for all Big Country Master Gardener information, events, and training.

We hope to see you next week during the Spring Plant Sale.

Until next time…  Happy Gardening!