Plant Sale shopper Michelle G. sent in these photos of some of her favorites from the Plant Sale.

The annual butterfly flower, Asclepias curassavica ‘Silky Deep Red’.

The perennial ornamental Feather Reed Grass named Avalanche, Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Avalanche’. I’ve never seen this one in person…this photo from Michelle makes me understand why it’s so popular!

Lemon Gem signet marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia ‘Lemon Gem’). Pretty cheery on a January day!

Annual bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea cyanus ‘Midnight’), specifically the color called Midnight. They’ve got fully double blooms, and as you can see, are a nearly black purple.

Bishop’s Children dahlia (Dahlia ‘Bishop’s Children’). I love that dark foliage with the peeks of orangey-red flowers.

The ornamental pepper Black Pearl (Capsicum annuum ‘Black Pearl’). While these are also edible, they’re usually grown for their foliage and colorful fruit.

Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’). Tall and later-blooming, these giants as sparks of color to the summer and fall garden and attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Thanks for the photos, Michelle! They’re very appreciated. If you’d like to send us photos of your plants, email them to photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com.

1. One-stop shopping. Annuals and perennials, rare and native plants, vegetables and herbs, trees and shrubs, vines and water plants: you can make all your plant purchases for the year at once.

2. Useful catalog and new website. You will find more information in the catalog and on the website than on most plant labels in regular nurseries. Starting this year, we are doing our best to find as many color photos of our plants as possible for you.

3. Huge variety of unusual plants. To buy the out-of-the-ordinary plants we sell, you’d have to search local nurseries, dozens of different catalogs, and many Internet sources. For instance, in 2008 we had 33 different varieties of stonecrop, 21 coral bells, 42 coleus, 42 hosta, and 47 heirloom tomatoes. Looking everywhere for that special plant? Let us know so we can try to find it for you.

4. Logical organization. The long straight tables with numbered signs mean you can both browse without worrying that you’re missing something and also locate the plant you need because it is right where it is supposed to be. Try finding a store with a system like that!

5. Local growers. Most of our plants are grown in Minnesota and its next-door neighbors (including Canada). Our growers can often grow otherwise unavailable plants from seed just for the sale!

6. Great starter plants. Stores tend to sell older, larger plants (which helps for instant gardening), but they do cost more.

7. Unbelievable prices. Even our larger plants are inexpensive — just check on the prices in a store or nursery and you’ll see! Also, compare our last year’s prices to this year’s — we try hard not to raise them, and sometimes manage to decrease them. On Sunday, everything is half price!

8. Profit goes to school scholarships. It’s just nice to know that your money is going to a good cause. The school kids, their parents (including parents whose kids graduated long, long ago!) and school staff all contribute their time and hard work to the plant sale.

9. Community project. Many volunteers (we expect close to 1,000 this year!), including several who work many hundreds of hours a year on the sale, make the sale both possible and enjoyable.

10. Once-a-year, awe-inspiring event. The Friends School Plant Sale is the largest plant sale in the Midwest. It’s exciting for beginning or experienced gardeners. Shoppers tell us that they find their hearts beating faster just driving past the State Fairgrounds in early spring. And, when the catalog is finally out, well, the only moment better than that is when you finally walk into the Grandstand and see 66,000 square feet of plants.

It would seem hard to beat a name like “Love-in-a-Puff,” but this lovable vine’s Latin name comes close: Cardiospermum means “Heart Seed” because inside each puffy seedpod are two seeds marked with a tiny heart.
Love-in-a-Puff Vine will grow to 10 feet in sun or part sun, easily covering a fence or large shrub. The small white flowers are cute, but it’s the multitude of inflated pods that you grow the plant for. Children (and adults) love to pop open the pods to find the heart-marked seeds. Sections of the vine with attached pods also look great in flower arrangements.