St Charles County
Master Gardeners
Click on address for map.
636-875-7457
Plant Sales
Plant Sales are held in the spring of the year. Master gardeners divide their natives and perennials, plant seeds, harvest seeds, dig up corms, tubers and bulbs for sale to the community at reasonable prices. The events held on a Saturday morning, also include gardening ideas and tours of the Demonstration Gardens located on the UM Extension campus. Proceeds raised by the sales are used to support and expand the Demonstration Gardens.
Procedures:
Dates for the Spring and Fall plant sale are established 18 months in advance and the room reserved.
Advertising committee members revise flyers and send out news releases to local newspapers, garden newsprints, garden clubs and garden websites. Revised flyers are emailed to Master Gardeners to pass out to family and friends as well as any contacts they have within the community. Possible contacts could also include real estate sales offices in new subdivisions, community calendars, markets, etc
Directional signs appear on local roads a week before the event. (St. Peters must be notified so signs will not be taken down)
Products:
Master Gardeners work hard planting seeds, taking cutting, dividing, perennials, native, corms and bulbs all in readiness of the plant sale. This is an opportunity for all Master Gardeners to show to the community our knowledge and enjoyment of gardening. To date more than enough plant varieties have been donated for sale. Master gardeners report which plants, how many and specifics of their donation (water, light and type) to Carol Grote about a month before the sale. Carol emails members a spreadsheet to input this information. When returned, Carol generates professional plant labels with all this information for the purchaser.
Day before the Sale:
Committee chairs have obtained lists of volunteers as workers for the sale. Docents, money collectors, and sales associates have all been garnished from previous meetings or email volunteer recruitment. A layout of the room has also been decided and tables are set up early on the Friday before the sale. Painters’ plastic covers all tables for easy clean up. Section signs are placed. Workers on Friday night intake flats of plants from members label each plant if not already done and place these in appropriate sections. Sheets of blank labels are necessary for those surprises. When everything is set up, workers retire for the night.
Before the sale:
Workers arrive about 1 hour early for a cup of coffee and to become familiar with what plants are in their area and how the flow will work for customers. Doors open immediately at 9 to smiles and lots of boxes for customers to make their selections.
During the sale:
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Master Gardeners serve as docents in the demonstration gardens.
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Two to three MG’s man the busy "Ask the Master Gardener" table where questions are answered, material is distributed and references are given about local clubs and classes of interest.
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Other demonstration centers have appeared at different sales including, establishing beehives, honey for sale, use of herbs, color in container gardening for all four seasons.
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Raffle: Garden items are usually gathered and displayed then tickets are sold for a chance to win this raffle item as another way to build the clubs coffers. Five gallon buckets of garden tools and materials, a beautiful handcrafted gourd and patio pot arrangements designed by Master Gardeners are some of the raffle items used.
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Another Master Gardener who greets visitors keeps a count of community visitors.
After the Sale
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Money is counted, organized for deposit the following business day. Credit card receipts are gathered for input (Pat Lang)
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Members stay after the sale to clean kitchen area, put up tables, chairs and sweep the floor area.
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Left over plants are sent out for sale by any willing members, given to specific garden leads or dug into the holding beds for the following sale.
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Signs or other reusable items are returned to the shed. Tear down is usually complete within an hour.
Online Advertising
Once the project leader announces a date, add our event to online gardening calendar of events, and send an email invitation on the ‘contact us’ page of groups who may be interested in gardening. Add to Events calendar for St. Peters and St. Charles local events posting in yahoo.com and charter.net
Many of these websites require online registration and to fill in their forms.
Id = stcharlesmg
Password=plantsale
If they require an email address use = muexthortline@yahoo.com
magazines
http://www.hortmag.com/contactus/
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/events.aspx
http://www.weekendgardener.net/garden-clubs-events.htm#post
http://www.countryliving.com/outdoor/expert-gardening-tips-and-advice/
http://www.countrysidemag.com/
http://www.southernliving.com/southern/gardens/0,13232,,00.html
http://www.ahs.org/events/flower_home_garden_shows.htm
http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/main/contactus.php?page=index
http://www.weekendgardener.net/garden-clubs-events.htm
Saint Charles Suburban Journal – send an email request to Dennis Miller dmiller@yourjournal.com to add to the St Charles County Suburban Journal Calendar of events. List all pertinent information and links to your event.
Road Trips - Invite them to a road trip for our plant sale and garden tour. Work with tourist and visitors bureau to add links for other events, restaurants, maps.
http://www.savvygardener.com/Calendar/
Societies
http://www.daylilies.org/AHSconv.html#R11meet
http://www.ahs.org/events/index.htm
http://www.irises.org/ais618.htm
http://www.gardenheights.com/links.html
http://calendar.gardenweb.com/
http://www.garden.org/eventCalendar/
http://www.all-americaselections.org/NGB.asp
http://www.grownative.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.contactus
http://www.butterflyhouse.org/events/calofevents.aspx
http://www.mlna.org/events-consumers.htm
http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/applications/MDCLibrary/MDCLibrary2.aspx?NodeID=167
http://parks.missouri.org/calendar.htm
http://www.publicgardens.org/Custom/GardenSearch.aspx
http://www.stcharlescountycalendar.com/
http://access.outreach.missouri.edu/uoecalendar/default.asp?Office_ID=98
http://www.greatriverroad.com/stcharles/countyevents.htm
http://www.stcharlesrealtors.com/education/calendar.html?td=2008-9-5&day=15§ion_uid=
http://www.historicstcharles.com/visitors.aspx
Learn about pet friendly plants - area humane societies http://www.stcharleshumanesociety.org/html/current_events.html
Grow pet friendly gardens and landscapes. Choose non-toxic plants http://ahners.com/Poisonous_Plants.html to protect our fury friends.
Learn the physical and mental advantages of gardening - all links to hospitals, clinics http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2002/gardening_for_good_health.htm
http://www.lut.ac.uk/service/publicity/news-releases/2005/38_thrive.html
http://alamedagarden.blogspot.com/2008/03/building-good-bones-in-garden.html
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/articles/misc/exercise.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2007-04-15-seeds-of-healing_N.htm
http://extension.unh.edu/news/new11604.htm
Local Gyms, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig...check yellow pages for local weight loss centers = http://gardening.about.com/od/allergiesarthritis/a/Garden_Fitness.htm
Learn how to garden with disabilities - disabilities and veterens = https://www.dav.org/?gclid=CJSVguez3pcCFRIMDQodeEG-Cg
We love our veterens...See how gardening can be of benefit to you. Join in the fun at the 2009 Plant Sale and Garden tour. Check out this article to learn how you can make gardening a part of your lifestyle http://pnwmg.org/mgdisabilities.html
Gardening is for everyone, all things are possible. Learn more about gardening with disabilities http://extension.unh.edu/resources/representation/Resource000470_Rep492.pdf
Learn about plants that do best in zone 5b
Learn about edible gardens
Learn about fruit orchards
Learn about native plants http://www.grownative.org/
Learn about rain gardens
Learn about butterfly gardening
Learn about hummingbird gardening
Learn about plants that attract birds http://www.wildbird.com/content/nbs.index
Learn about culinary herbs
Learn about composting
Learn about vegetable gardening
Learn about perennial gardening
Learn about bulb gardens
Learn about plants of merit
Learn about fragrant gardens
Learn about color in your garden
Learn about bee keeping
Learn about shade gardens
Realtors, home buyers, sellers, relocating to our community love to garden learn what grows in our area http://www.stcharlescounty-realestate.com/bin/web/real_estate/AR108738/ACTIVATE_FRAMES/CONTACT_ME/St+Charles/1262892335.html
Links for new subdivisions to learn about landscaping for their new home-gardening and landscape demo garden for their new home
http://www.internest.com/xyz/viewMO.asp?County=705&CNme=Saint+Charles+County
Learn about trellising and growing vines
Learn about growing an extra row for the hungry
http://www.chestnut-sw.com/index.htm
http://www.gardenscape.com/GSMagsBooks.html#Gardening%20Publications
Adopted February, 2010