A truckload of plants and flowers will be sorted and sold this weekend in the Marine Hills neighborhood.

The Marine Hills Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 26 at 29301 7th Place S.

The sale is an opportunity for garden lovers to buy a variety of plants and flowers at a discounted price, while also supporting local community projects and horticulture students at state universities, garden club member Judy McDonald said.

The plants and flowers available for sale are left over from the club’s pre-order fundraiser, but there will be no lack of color and variety to the selection available for purchase, McDonald said.

The plant sale is not like going to a grocery or hardware store, where customers often have little selection, she said.

“When you go to the store, you don’t get to choose (from an array of plant colors and species),” McDonald said.

The plants will arrive by truck April 25 and the pre-order customers will pick up their orders that day.

The club orders the plants by the flat, even if customers only want a few plants of any certain variety, so several are left over for the following day’s plant sale, McDonald said.

Native plants, such as red flowering currants, flowering baskets, such as fuchsias, herbs, such as dill, and giant ferns are some of the harder-to-find plant varieties that will be available at the sale, McDonald said. Annuals and perennials will also be there.

“You’d have to see it to see how many types of plants we have,” she said. “We’ll have a little bit of everything.”

Those who are aware of the annual event tend to come early to ensure a wide selection, McDonald said.

“It’s like a pandemonium at 10 o’clock,” she said.

A master gardener will be on site to answer customers’ questions as how to keep vegetation safe during inclement weather and how to rid flowers of bugs.

“This year in particular, you are going to have to be careful with plants,” McDonald said in reference to the colder than usual weather.

The club prices its plants reasonably. Customers can get flats, which contain about 36 plant or flower starts, for $12.50, she said. They money collected will be used to fund scholarships for horticulture students at the University of Washington and Washington State University. It will also be put toward the club’s guest speakers and teaching sessions on gardening crafts and techniques.

The skills learned from the guest speakers and teaching sessions are used when the club’s members perform community service projects. The group provides flower arrangements for Life Care Center, a nursing home. In the past, Marine Hills Garden Club has also planted flower beds as a community service, McDonald said. The group is currently seeking a similar service project.

Contact Jacinda Howard: jhoward@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.

Check it out:

The Marine Hills Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 26 at 29301 7th Place S. To learn more about the Marine Hills Garden Club or its plant sale, contact Judy McDonald at (253) 839-4413. The club is not exclusive to Marine Hills neighborhood residents.

t Event supports local projects and horticulture students