Clovis Botanical Garden Hosts Water Wise Plant Sale

The semi-annual plant sale raised funds for the Clovis Botanical Garden and the California Native Plant Society, while educating customers. (Photo by Ron Sundquist/Clovis Roundup)

By Stephanie Agnes-Crockett, contributed

The Clovis Botanical Garden (CBG), in partnership with the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), hosted its semi-annual plant sale on Saturday, Oct, 21. After several months of preparation, roughly 40 volunteers gathered to organize the event and welcomed hundreds of customers to the Botanical Garden. The fall plant sale has been operating for nearly 10 years and raises funds for the CNPS, as well as for the general upkeep of the Garden.

The garden’s aim, as expressed in its mission statement, is “to promote water conservation in the California Central Valley landscape … ” and the plant sale accomplished this goal, as customers perused a selection of low-water plants.

“People come looking especially for plants that don’t need a lot of water,” Botanical Garden President Anne Clemons explained.

Since the sale specialized in plants catered to the Central Valley climate, customers didn’t have to check individual tags for watering requirements. The plants did come with growing instructions, according to CNPS volunteer Thelma Valdez. She said that each plant was accompanied by a set of growing instructions, “since many folks don’t know that they’ll have the best success with California native and other Mediterranean plants if they plant now.”

Customers favored California Fuchsia, Manzanitas, Sulphur Buckwheat, and Carpentaria, according to Valdez.

“California Fuchsia and Manzanitas are both loved by hummingbirds,” she said. “[While] Sulphur Buckwheat and California Buckwheat are both loved by pollinator insects.”

Ree Coy, co-chair of the plant sale committee, added: “Various colored salvias and tecomas were very popular this year. Many were sold, and we have many species of these thriving in the garden as excellent examples.”

For Clemons, the most rewarding aspect of the sale is gauging customers’ reactions to the updates in the garden. “My favorite part is to see people who haven’t been to the garden for a while, and get their reactions to the changes that have been made,” she said.

She also enjoys welcoming previous donors, who have the opportunity to see the success of their contributions.

Coy said the Garden also received waves of community support when it came time to do the heavy lifting, which contributed to the overall success of the event.

“Many people helped over several days to prep the Garden, stage and price plants, sell plants and clean up,” Coy said. “Master gardeners, CBG and CNPS members and young members of LDS and high schools all worked hard to make this event a success.”

The next Clovis Botanical Garden plant sale will take place in March, during the annual Spring Into Your Garden event. For more information on the Clovis Botanical Garden, including updates on upcoming events and exhibits, visit www.clovisbotanicalgarden.org, or follow Clovis Botanical Garden on Facebook.

CR Staff:
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