Coming up on Saturday, May 16 will be the 18th annual River Valley Garden Club Plant Sale.
Club President Elizabeth Palulis tells us it’s their biggest fundraiser of the year, supporting a variety of programming, and a great chance for those working on their yards or gardens to pick up some plants at a good price.
“Members dig plants from their own yards and pot them up and bring them for sale,” Palulis said. “We have a lot of trees, bushes, perennials, some vegetables. The prices are really good because we’re just donating our plants from our own yards. We’re trying to focus this year on more native plants that are good for bees and butterflies and birds.”
Palulis says the sale is also a good place to meet other garden-loving people and get advice and ideas from avid gardeners. She notes a lot of people come out for it each year.
“We have people lining up at 10 o‘clock at Harbor Park in Sawyer, where we have it, and basically by noon, the plants are gone.”
Palulis says the River Valley Garden Club started in 1968 with just 12 women and now boasts of a membership of around 120, both women and men, from Indiana and Southwest Michigan. Aside from the annual plant sale, the club has field trips, guest speakers, a member’s plant auction, and hands-on workshops. It also supports a yearly scholarship for graduates of either Bridgman or River Valley High School studying any form of horticulture.
The plant sale will be Saturday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to noon at Harbert Community Park in Sawyer. The pavilion will be used for the sale, so it will be rain or shine. Palulis says the pavilion will be jam-packed with plants.