GARDENING

Toledo Botanical Garden plant sale

Annual spring event begins today and continues Saturday

Toledo GROWS manager Yvonne Dubielak, left, assisting Cheryl Takata, of Perrysburg, as she selects a tomato plant. Toledo GROWS is selling numerous vegetable plants, and a large variety of heirloom tomatoes at the annual Spring plant sale at the Toledo Botanical Garden in Toledo.

Toledo Botanical Garden’s annual spring plant sale begins today and continues Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days), and Sunday (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

There will be 5,000 homegrown plants, heirloom vegetable seedlings (started by Toledo Grows), and herbs (from the Maumee Valley Herb Society).

Among the offerings will be clematis, astilbe, hibiscus, peony, iris, ornamental grasses, and ground covers, hanging baskets, trees and shrubs, and heirloom vegetables.

If you’re buying a plant as a gift, make sure you know at least one thing about the places your gardener toils in: how much sun do those places get?

● If it’s six hours or more a day, look for and ask about plants that crave (and are categorized as) full sun. Go the extra mile and throw in a tube of sunscreen.

● If it’s three-to-six hours a day, check out plants sold as being able to thrive in partial sun.

●If it’s less than three hours a day, you can a) thrill them by having the shade-causing tree felled or building moved, or b) purchase a plant that will grow in shade.

The sale and several appealing workshops will be held on the garden’s entrance at 5424 Bancroft Street where the greenhouses are located. Two food vendors will sell lunch items, beverages, and pastries.

Each day, visitors can check out projects that aim to optimize space and resources for growing vegetables in the city. And, Jonathan Milbrodt, plant records curator, will be available to point out accredited and significant plant collections, and discuss garden history.

Workshops, held in the Maintenance Building, include just one today at 3:30 p.m., shade gardening with Joyce Blanton.

Saturday’s lineup begins at 11 a.m. with Kathie Cliffel speaking about herbs in What’s That Green Stuff in my Soup?; at noon, Exceptional Trees and Shrubs with Tom Schoen; 1 p.m., Growing the Best-ever Tomatoes with Susan Noblet, and at 2 p.m., Rose Care and the Future of Roses with Mary Visco.

Sunday at 11 a.m., horticulturists Nick Guthrie and Joshua Fietz will discuss the many different planted areas in these 64 verdant acres, its plant collections, and history.

At noon, Hal Mann will present a slide show of plants native to the Oak Openings region. Mann, who is changing his home landscape to these hardy, native plants (those that grew here before Europeans introduced their plants), is president of Wild Ones Oak Openings chapter.

And at 1:30 p.m., naturalist Denise Gehring will lead a walk through a greenhouse that’s growing wildflowers native to Oak Openings.

On the Elmer Drive side of the garden, the gift shop and the pottery cottage will be open, and Blair Museum of Lithophanes will be open from 1 to 4 p.m.

A list of “picks” and their photos by garden staff, most of which appear to be sun loving, are on the garden’s Facebook page.

Information: 419-419-536-5566, toledogarden.org, and Facebook.

Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075.