Novice gardener Melissa DeSousa was smiling as she and her significant other looked over plants at the Langley Garden Club’s 43rd annual spring show and sale Langley Garden Club show and sale at the the Southridge Fellowship Church in Murrayville
“We’re just getting into gardening,” DeSousa, who lives in Murrayville, told the Langley Advance Times.
“So we thought it would be a really good experience to be able to come and see what they were offering and see if we can get some knowledge from some people and just see what’s available.”
It was one of two garden sales in Langley to mark the start of growing season for amateur cultivators.
Over at the annual KPU School of Horticulture plant sale, on the same day, hundreds crowded into the greenhouses that face the Langley City Campus from across the One-way.
Willoughby resident Sandra Clark explained that she likes to begin planting with a visit to the KPU sale.
“We do this every year,” Clark said.
“It’s nice to get some new varieties that are not sold in the stores. I like to support the university so students can continue to get their education.”
Rob Welsh, the horticulture technician and landscape instructional associate in the KPU horticulture program , was busier than he expected to be, as he cheerfully processed plant purchases.
“It’s crazy busy,” Welsh smiled.
“We really didn’t expect it to be this busy with the rainfall, but we have some die-hard customers that are coming out and supporting our program and the Horticulture students as well.
People filled the parking lot on the main campus and walked across the pedestrian bridge tothe greenhouses to buy hanging baskets, perennials, herbs, ornamental grasses, basket stuffers, conifers and more.
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At the Langley Garden Club event, long-term club member Jette Herscovitch arrived prepared for the downpour in a warm water resistant hooded jacked and umbrella, the result of lessons learned over previous club sales.
“I’ve been a member 25 years, probably 30,” Herscovitch, a Brookswood resident, estimated.
Club president Pam Erikson said the odds of less than ideal weather were high.
“This is actually my 32nd year doing the sale, and I think nine times out of ten we’ve had rain,” Erikson estimated, “but true gardeners will come out here because we’ve got a great plant sale.”
Erikson said many gardeners were looking to recover from freezing conditions that did considerable damage.
“It was a bad winter this year,” Erikson noted.
“A lot of people lost plants [and] they need to come and replace them”
The club sale featured a “plethora of all different plants from shade to Sun,” Erikson commented, including bueberries, tomatoes, daylilies, Japanese maples and apple trees.
Established in 1941, the non-profit Langley Garden Club’s stated goals are” to promote and encourage vegetable gardening, floral and shrubbery landscaping, decorative floral arts, and to nourish a creative congeniality among the club members and the community.”
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Affiliated with the BC Council of Garden Clubs, the Langley Arts Council and the Langley Agricultural Association, the club holds regular monthly meetings from February to December, where gardening tips are available from members who are experienced gardeners, even owners of garden-related businesses.
More information can be found on the club website: www.langleygardenclub.com.