Well, the 2007 sale was the place for wagon innovators to see and be seen. Here is a gallery of wagons we saw at the sale. Photos by Pat and MarySo.

Below: An L-shaped cart that accommodates three large plastic bins.

Below: A Plant Sale classic: a stroller used to carry plants.

Below: A new use for those bankers boxes!

Below: Put some plants in your inbox. Or is that the outbox?

Below: This great wagon is available from a Minnesota company, www.ursawagon.com.

Below: The classic Radio Flyer modified with containers.

Below: A new use for plastic shelving. And is that a mechanic’s dollie underneath to supply the wheels?

Below: A two-wheel hand cart, turned flat and used with improvised shelves.

Below: A gardener who is also a dog obedience trainer used what she had!

Below: This person took us seriously about labeling her wagon. And we love the use of a Minnetrista recycling bin!

Friends School Plant Sale 2007 was honored by a visit of the Green Guardian. The Guardian talked to shoppers waiting in the line before the sale began, sharing information about recycling and composting.

The Green Guardian met with and later knighted a group of Friends School middle schoolers who implemented a recycling and composting program at the school.

Friends School science teacher Steve Moe worked with the students on the school’s new efforts.

You can find out more about how to reduce, reuse and recycle at www.greenguardian.com.

Thanks to our thousands of loyal shoppers and hundreds of volunteers, the 2007 Friends School Plant Sale ran (almost) without a hitch. We had double the turnout of any previous year, so thanks to everyone for their patience!

In the end, we sold everything except a handful of bulbs, which has never happened before in our history. We usually give the remaining plants to community gardeners, but this year there were none to give.

We’ll be figuring out how to have enough plants to keep everyone happy as we begin work on the 2008 sale. Meanwhile, here are a couple of pictures of this year’s sale.

Below: Part of the 66,000-square-foot sale floor, seen from above. This shows about half of the perennials (the back three rows), along with part of the herbs and native wild flowers, plus of course the hanging baskets in the front. I think this is from Friday later in the day.

Below: Customers check out at the cashier stations. While many of our other volunteers are interested gardeners from the community, Plant Sale cashiers are all Friends School parents, grandparents, staff, or former students, so feel free to ask them about the school, too!

Photos by Wendy Lutter

Plant Sale shopper Angee sent in this photo of her wagon. She wrote:

I made a second deck for my wagon. I planned it out before I built it, so it just fits in the back of my Subaru.

I look forward to the plant sale every year like a child looks forward to Christmas.

Thanks for sending in your cart, Angee!

If you would like to share your cart, email a photo to photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com.

The plants began arriving today, Wednesday. More are coming tomorrow!

Middle school students helped to unload the trucks full of plants throughout the day, along with parent and community volunteers.

Students worked at unwrapping the hybrid tea roses.

Photos by Wendy Lutter

The Green Guardian, mascot of the Twin Cities’ concerted effort to reduce, reuse and recycle, will be visiting the Friends School Plant Sale just before it opens on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m.

Part of the Green Guardian’s educational mission is to educate and encourage the public about composting, something about which many gardeners want to know more.

Friends School middle schoolers have been working this year to expand the school’s recycling and composting, including composting lunch leftovers. FSM received a generous grant from Green Guardian / Community POWER to carry out this program. So if you are in the line before the sale, you can expect to see some of the students with the Green Guardian telling about what they have been doing to reduce, reuse and recycle at Friends School.

As an added bonus to the Green Guardian’s appearance, if you are one of the first 1,000 shoppers, you will receive a pencil made of recycled denim or recycled money from the Green Guardian program.

Check out more about Green Guardian by visiting their website, www.greenguardian.com.