April showers bring May flowers – that is just part of what Reiman Gardens has in store for its upcoming annual plant sale.
Rain or shine, the Plant Sale Extravaganza will be open to the public Saturday, May 11 from 9 a.m to 6 p.m, and Sunday, May 12 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Reiman overflow parking lot. Pre-sales (for members only) are currently online, and members will have access to in-person exclusive sales Friday, May 10 from 4-7 p.m.
This year’s annual sale proceeds will help support various Iowa State and Story County area organizations. This year’s Iowa State beneficiaries will be the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Graduate Student Organization, Student Horticulture Society, Horticulture Club and Reiman Gardens itself. Amongst those organizations, the sales will also benefit the Story County Master Gardener Association.
Whether looking for the perfect houseplants, or something a bit more evergreen like perennials, Reiman Gardens will be blooming with a variety of options for sale.
Kara Hetrick, a Horticulturist at Reiman Gardens described the preparations each organization experiences for the event.
“We [Reiman Gardens] have anything from trees to shrubs,” Hetrick said. “So trees are normal size three or five gallon trees. We have perennials, so anything that you can put into the ground, and it will live all year long and will come back next year.”
Hetrick said there are different colors available and objects that participants can put in containers in the ground-hanging baskets. Houseplants and tropicals will also be available.
Many plants come from Reiman’s greenhouse, propagated throughout the year. Hetrick also describes the unique growing process of the Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Graduate Student Organization’s (EEOB) native plants.
“The Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Graduate Student Organization, they do a lot of your native plants, so they have what’s called a cone container,” Hetrick said. “The reason they do this is because native plants have a longer root system, a deeper root system. So they grow these cones so that the roots can grow really long instead of your shorter pots.”
Hetrick also spoke about the partnership with the Horticulture club on campus. The club produces hanging baskets that are “perfect for Mother’s Day.”
“Then we have the Iowa State horticulture graduates, they do all of our vegetables. So they have goodness, tomatoes, peppers, they have a couple of herbs, they have cucumbers and pumpkins, they have all kinds of vegetables,” Hetrick said.
The event will take place over two days – but some plants will not last long. Some hot items, according to Hetrick, may be sold out before the sale opens to the public.
“We’re actually right in the middle of our online presale, which is for members only,” Hetrick said. “So they’ve been shopping since last Friday. So sometimes we run out of things before the sale even happens. So you’ll see when you come to the event, we have a section where it is online pre-sale stuff. So people will come, and they just pick up their plants and can shop more or they can go home. So definitely having a membership is the biggest way to shop, the presale is best to get some of those more hot items earlier on.”
Rain or shine, dirt and water are used to grow plants. Hetrick encourages patrons to prepare their vehicles before coming to pick up their plants.
“Having space in your vehicle that has some kind of coverage on the bottom, because knowing soil, water, and keeping certain things out of your vehicle is always nice,” Hetrick said. “We encourage people to bring boxes to carry stuff and we do have a small supply of boxes that we give out, but we run out very quickly.
For those looking to support the community or simply looking to learn more about plants, the Reiman Gardens Plant Sale Extravaganza is a great opportunity to grow. Hetrick suggested future expansion might include a potting table where participants can buy a plant and a horticulturist like herself would be there to help pot it.
“We’re there to answer any questions you might have, so if you’re really looking to just get started in plants, we can point you to the plant that would be perfect for you to start with and talk you through how to pot it up,” Hetrick said.
