Flower Power: MAC Students to Hold Annual Plant Sale April 28-May 1

Just in time for optimum planting season, Mineral Area College horticulture students will be holding their annual plant sale at the community college's greenhouse on the Park Hills campus. Sale hours are 8 a.m. – 3 p.m., April 28-May 1. Cash and check are accepted. The proceeds help pay for off-campus student labs and industry-related field trips. In addition, the program is also accepting planting pots that are in need of recycling.
 
Dr. Chad Follis, MAC horticulture instructor, said he anticipates the top sellers this year will be hanging baskets, vegetables and herbs. "Those are the plants that always seem to do well at our sale, but we'll also have sweet potatoes, whopper begonia, and favorite annuals such as geranium and petunia this year," he said. "It's important to get here early."
 
For more information about the plant sale or the horticulture program at MAC, contact Follis at (573) 518-2323.
 
For variety, this year's sale will also offer heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, purple fountain grass and select perennials. The sale will feature a line of organic vegetables and onion sets and starts this year. The sale will have plants that can be used on shade or sun, and students are ready to put their classroom knowledge to use in answering customers’ questions.  
 
"We strive to offer hardy plants that look great throughout the summer months," Follis said about how the plants are chosen. "One great thing about having this annual sale is, we get repeat customers who tell us how their plants did last year. The students appreciate that continuity, and having the plant sale gives them real-world skills and experience, from acquiring or growing the plants, to tending them, to selling them, to managing the money."
 
Horticulture student Deborah Gephardt of Farmington said she’s looking forward to using her knowledge at the sale. "This is a small version of what you would experience in the retail nursery industry,” she said. “We get the chance to help customers with questions and hopefully give them the plants and landscapes they can be proud of, which makes all the studying worth it."