The annual Classroom in Bloom plant sale attracted an early-morning crowd that scooped up a lot of the offerings.
Offerings at the Classroom in Bloom plant sale included 15 varieties of tomatoes.
Classroom in Bloom’s spring plant sale was scheduled to last from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, but by just after 11 a.m. many tables had been picked clean by eager gardeners.
“It’s been like a mob scene,” said Susan Ernsdorff, secretary of Classroom in Bloom.
Classroom in Bloom doubled the plant starts for sale this year after a successful sale in 2020. While they weren’t able to do a sale at the garden in spring 2020 due to COVID-19, the online sale was very well-attended, said Executive Director Kim Romain-Bondi.
“Last year was really successful due to an uptick in home gardeners,” she said.
This year, the garden located on Methow School District property, was open again, and gardeners took advantage of it.
“I’ve been in tomatoes the whole time. This is a quarter to a third of what we started with,” said Anne Naney.
The sale offered 15 varieties of tomatoes — from your typical beefsteak to more non-traditional Ukrainian varieties — in addition to four kinds each of eggplant and broccoli, 11 varieties of peppers, various types of onions, squash, cabbage and herbs and flowers ranging from the decorative to the edible.
Most of the plant starts were grown by students, but some were donated from area Master Gardener groups.
The sale isn’t a major fundraiser for Classroom in Bloom, members said, but a way to draw the community into the garden and to give their students confidence in their growing abilities.
“We love seeing people in the garden,” Ernsdorff said.
For more information on Classroom in Bloom and its programs, go to www.classroominbloom.org.
