Long-time Plant Sale volunteer Ceil wrote in to tell us about her proven method for protecting her newly planted bulbs from roaming garden critters:

“Henry saw these in my newest flower bed a few weeks ago and said I should take a picture and send it to you.

“I use whatever sticks I find on the ground (and over the years I have way more than I need) and poke them around and among freshly planted bulbs (and other flowers that rabbits and squirrels like to eat) to protect the bulbs from being dug up and eaten by said r’s and sq’s. It discourages them and the method works!”

I asked Ceil if she removes the sticks in spring, or what, and she sent in this picture in response — the sticks are still there, and the blooming tulips and daffodils outshine them.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see photos of more plants from the Plant Sale? You can help with this project! We would love to have photos of your plants and gardens to put on this website and into next year’s catalog. For 2009, we plan to have more color pages with photos in the catalog!

In fact, we really need them, because otherwise we are limited to using photos we take ourselves in our own gardens and photos from the websites we have permission to use. And this supply of photos is dwindling.

We need both photos of individual plants that you bought at the sale and photos showing how the plants look in your garden, window box, or container. In fact, it would be great if you made a point of taking photographs in your garden this summer of both previous purchases and new 2008 plants.

We are more interested in practical photos that show the plant or flower clearly than in “beauty shots,” but either would be welcome! It’s not required, but we would also be interested in hearing about your impressions of the plants, both positive and negative.

There are various ways you can share your photos with the Friends School Plant Sale community:

1. If possible, email your full-size digital photos to us at photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com — we will take care of cropping them and making them the right size. If you know the name of a plant, that is definitely helpful but not necessary. In many cases, we will be able to recognize it. Let us know if you want your name with your photo or not.
2. If you have print photos, you can mail them to Friends School Plant Sale, 1365 Englewood Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104.
3. If you are a gardener with a lot of Friends School Plant Sale plants in your garden but do not wish to photograph them yourself, email or write to us and we can discuss having one of our volunteer photographers take photos. Or let us know if your garden will be on a garden tour this year!

If you feel like sharing photos of what you got at the sale — either before planting it or after — please email them to us.

Here are photos of my haul. See if you can pick out the Anthole begonia. And I couldn’t resist the variegated Colorguard Yucca, which was a surprise addition at the sale (we had tried to order it, but the grower said it wouldn’t be available.. and then it just showed up!).

I also felt moved to bring home these two charming birds (vultures?) from Dick’s Designs. They’re keeping a careful watch over some gold-green hosta, Japanese Forest Grass, and a bunch of Rue Anemone. In the background are several Pink Spike Black Cohosh — man, those are going to be beautiful!

This year’s plant sale had two pieces of major media coverage.

On Thursday before the sale, Mary V (our publicity coordinator and outside line wrangler extraordinaire), school development director Wendy Lutter, and four of our 8th graders were on KARE 11’s 4 p.m. newscast for about 5 minutes. You can read about what they said at this link and if you click the red “video” link below the photo of Mums on that page, they’ve included the video story. They also linked to the full version of our 30-Second Plant Sale video.

Mary, Wendy and the kids did a great job!

Then on Friday morning of the sale’s opening, Plant Sale founder Henry was interviewed for the Star Tribune’s Dirt on Gardening podcast. You can listen to that here (requires the Flash 8 player).

I haven’t had time to listen to this one yet but Henry says “It was interesting to hear it.” Hope you all agree!

Happy Mother’s Day!

All the rain on Saturday is good news for those who like to shop at the half-price sale on Sunday. There were quite a few plants left on Saturday night, especially annuals and shrubs.

We will be using the new wristband system on Sunday which means that, if you want to, you can come early and get your wristband, then return when the wrist-band volunteers advise you to. It is hard to predict how early you would want to get your wristband if you want to be in the first six groups of fifty, but my best guess is two hours before the sale starts.

Remember, write down the full price, and then we cut it in half at the checkout!

Here is a very partial list of the plants I noticed that were still on the shelves tonight. Many are annuals, but there were many perennials, natives, and others, including a number of plants that we have always sold out of before Sunday in the past.

Spring blooming bulbs

First, if you didn’t already see them near the Info Desk, we have potted up spring bulbs (which will quickly grow to be like those shown in the picture above in a few days to a week), originally priced at $2 for a 4″ pot, $4 for a 6″ pot, and $6 for a 7″ pot. As with everything else, you will be able to take 50% off at the register. There are tulips and hyacinths in 4 and 6″ sizes, and mixed bulb gardens in the 7″ pots. What a great Mother’s Day present!

Rare Plants

• Cohosh, Pink Spike — beautiful in the pot right now and even better in the garden
• Dogwood, Pagoda ‘Golden Shadows’
• Elm, Miniature
• several different rare Lady Slippers
• Lily, Martagon
• Peony, Scarlet
• Peony, Woody
• different Voodoo Lilies

Perennials

• many, many Hosta
• Lilies in pots: ‘Easter Morn’ & “Firey Bells’ (a great red-orange)
• Bleeding Heart, Fringed
• Burnet, Menzies’
• many different Coral Bells including ‘Caramel’ & ‘Midnight Rose’
• Coneflower ‘Kim’s Knee High’
• Pickerel Rush (a water plant)

Climbers

• Morning Glories

Native Wild Flowers
Generally a not bad assortment, but here are the ones that are most available:

• Beardtongue, Large Flowered (our cover plant from 2006, see the photo below!)
• Cardinal flower in four packs
• Culver’s Root
• Stiff Goldenrod
• Wood Lily (these are tiny seedlings)
• Labrador Violet
• Virginia Bluebells — lots! This usually sells out way before this time.
• Wild Ginger (Ramsey County source)
• Hepatica, Sharp-Lobed
• Meadow Rue, both types
• Rue Anemone — lots! Buy this, it’s a great spring woodland ephemeral. (Pat says: The ones I bought last year are blooming right this minute)
• Solomon’s Seal, Starry (Ramsey County source)
• Trout Lily — these are dormant in the pots

Photo by Pat, taken next to the Goodwill in St. Paul’s Midway, summer 2005.

Herbs

• A good variety of lavenders

Annuals

• Black-Eyed Susan ‘Cherokee Sunset’
• Bells of Ireland
• many different Begonia
• lots of Alyssum
• Ageratum
• several different Amaranths
• Artichoke, Globe
• Asparagus Fern
• Bachelor’s Buttons ‘Midnight’ & ‘Blue Boy’
• lots of great Coleus, including ‘Dr. Wu’ and ‘Colleen’
• Cockscomb ‘Star Trek Rose’
• Calendula
• Flowering Cabbage
• annual Butterfly Flower
• Butterfly Bush, annual, ‘Pink Delight’
• lots of Dusty Miller
• lots of various Cosmos
• Daisy, Blue-Eyed, ‘Pumpkin Pie’
• Dahlia ‘Mystic Illusion’
• lots of various Impatiens
• Hibiscus, annual ‘Maple Sugar’ (looks like Japanese Maple!)
• Grass, Ruby
• Grass, Bunny Tails
• Golden Dewdrop
• Globe Amaranth purple
• many different fancy leaf Geraniums
• Gaura
• different Fuchsia
• lots of different Pansies and Johnny Jump-Ups
• lots of different Nasturtium
• several different Nemesia
• lots of different Snapdragons
• lots of different Salvias, including Black and Blue, which is wonderful for hummingbirds
• Aeonium including ‘Zwartkop’!!!!
• Kalanchoe Flapjack
• Mandevilla, Red & Pink
• Golden Trumpet Vine
• Kangaroo Paws, both colors
• Elephant Ears
• Bananas
• Clivia
• Venus Fly Traps in cute little containers

Shrubs and Trees

• Azaleas (Lilac, Mandarin and Western Lights especially)
• PJM Rhododendrons (especially Compacta)
• Buffaloberry
• Hibiscus, Christi — this is was developed by the Cockers of Rochester, Minn. The plants are still dormant (Hibiscus “wake up” very late!) but they will bear beautiful 6–8″ ruby red flowers!
• An assortment of Lilacs, including a few of the grafted and weeping ones
• Royal Star magnolias
• American Chestnut and Cucumber Magnolias — both these great U.S. native trees are immature looking in the pot, but have good root systems and will grow into great additions in your landscape
• Locust, Purple Robe — large pots (5 gallon) and quite tall for transporting, but these are beautiful trees (wonderful flowers), great for smaller yards!
• There is one Redbud left — don’t fight over it! (We’re Quakers)
• An assortment of the small shrubs — lots of Weigela (My Monet !!! and Red Prince especially)
• The native groundcover shrub Kinnikinnick (a late addition we weren’t expecting, in gallons)

Roses

• Golden Wings
• Rosa Glauca
• William Baffin climber, believe it or not

[Additional reporting “from the field” by Pat]

The world-famous White Garden at Sissinghurst in England contains not only all shades of white flowers and gray foliage — it has a surprising number of plants that are actually light pastels. Here are some white or nearly white flowers that will be at the sale.

Above: Part of the White Garden at Sissinghurst (photo by Nancy)

Above: Maiden’s Wreath (Francoa p.17) (photo from the Wikipedia)

Above: Bacopa, Great White p. 39 A614

Above: Slender Deutzia ‘Nikko’ (Deutzia p.52) (photo from the Wikipedia)

Above: Prairie Sage (Artemisia ‘Valerie Finnis’ p. 32) (photo from Mobot.org)

Above: Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila repens p.7) (photo from the Wikipedia)

A small selection of the carts from Friday morning.

Here’s a preview of the sale! Look what’s waiting for you!

Above: A684 Brush-Cherry Topiary p.48

Above: A 681 Banana ‘Rowe Red’ p. 48

Above: Another amazing cart!

The plants began arriving today. Middle school students and volunteers spent the day receiving plants from our many growers. Here are a few photos.

Above: We’ve moved the shrubs and trees outside along the front of the Grandstand.

Above: A student “section leader” looks up the names of plants so other students can shelve them.

Above: Students find time for a bit of levity as they carry out their Plant Sale duties.

Photos by Wendy Lutter.

2007 Plant Sale shopper Jennie writes:

Just wanted you to know that the Friends Plant Sale Japanese Maple I bought last year made it!

I’m looking forward to my volunteer shift this week and the sale. I hope it’s a great year for the sale!

Thanks, Jennie! We love to get feedback on the plants you grow. Of course, we can’t be blamed if we particularly like the success stories, but we’re very interested to know what doesn’t do so well, too.

Here is a photo of a Japanese Maple planted a few years earlier (note: this is not Jennie’s tree), shot last summer just a few blocks from Friends School in the Hamline Midway neighborhood.

Photo by Pat