Our Red-Letter Plant Day

Written By: Mary Jane McCall | Issue: April 2025

Let’s all give a collective shout out for the arrival of spring!

Now’s the time to start freshening up your landscaping and gardens and the perfect place to start is at the annual Highlands Mountain Garden Club’s annual plant sale to be held on Saturday, May 24, from 9:00 A.M. until Noon at the Town Ball Field. The ball field will have been transformed into a magical carpet of green covered with plants of all shapes, sizes, and varieties, and busy worker bee Garden Club members will be on hand to help you find what you’re looking for.

Why take a chance on big box plants that might or might not thrive in your garden? These plants have all been lovingly cultivated in native soil so they will grow and thrive for years to come. Chances are that if you’ve admired any beautiful plant in a local garden, you’ll find it here.

Expect to find flowers and plants of all kinds, from those that attract pollinators such as bee balm, astilbe, and clematis, to the always popular Hosta in its many varieties, several types of ferns, including the popular Cinnamon Fern, and many other offerings, including Dahlia tubers.

Dahlias have become increasingly popular on the Plateau thanks in no small part to the successful Dahlia Festival held each September. It’s hard not to want to grow your own after you see them in all their glory, so this is your chance to talk to the growers and buy local tubers.

Who knows, you might grow next year’s best in show! At the very least you will have transformed your garden with stunning Dahlias.

Garden Club member Ann Maxwell says, “what’s not to love about Dahlias? They bloom from July until the first frost and growing conditions on the Highlands plateau are perfect for them.”

They come in unlimited colors, varieties, and sizes, which can range from less than two inches to more than 10 inches in diameter, are deer resistant, and they are beautiful cut flowers.

Ann warns that “growing Dahlias is addictive,” so plan ahead to come back next year for more tubers.

Be prepared to arrive early as the sale is extremely popular and long lines form quickly. Proceeds are used for scholarships for local students, maintenance of the Highlands School garden, the Historical Jail premises and the Eckerd Center Garden, as well as for other community projects. It is a chance to beautify your garden while giving to a good cause.

Cash or check only, please.