A Grower Perspective

Yesterday was the annual auction for our kids’ school. It is our biggest fundraiser of the year and critically important to the operation of our school. We always try to support these fundraisers as much as possible and the auction is no exception. One of our auction donations this year was a truckload of plants that were used as decorations and then as an auction items.

This year’s theme was Shamrock Shindig in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. It was amazing to walk in and see how the gym and cafeteria was transformed into a lush, green, bit of Ireland and the plants we donated took center stage. In the silent auction room, a small park with benches and even a blarney stone were set up. Several of our Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Green Arrow’ trees served as anchors and looked so majestic. Lots of people asked us what they were and complimented us on them. The prolific flowers of the large Pieris japonica ‘Sarbande’ looked beautiful contrasted against their rich green foliage. And the dinner table centerpieces were our ready-to-bloom Arctostaphylos uva ursi ‘Massachusetts’ set into black pots complete with gold nuggets (pot o’ gold!).

As always, the auction was great fun and a big success. It was especially gratifying for us to see how our plants could help raise money and also how they could serve to transform a standard-issue gym and cafeteria into an Irish countryside. And maybe, just maybe, our donation of plants served as inspiration to the many auction guests, showing them how plants could transform their own home gardens too.