Looking for some leafy additions for your home garden? Loon no further than the 2024 Spring Plant Sale by the Brazos County Master Gardener Association, or BCMGA, on Saturday, March 23 at the Brazos County Extension Office. With over 8,000 plants to choose from, the Plant Sale offers a plethora of native species that are sure to thrive in the Brazos Valley.
The BCMGA is a nonprofit organization led by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, where community members with an interest in horticulture and gardening can become educated and trained as certified Master Gardeners. The Plant Sale serves as their only major fundraiser, providing financial support for all of their local educational events that are offered to the community.
Wanda Stuart, Master Gardener and main coordinator for the 2024 Plant Sale, says one of the unique aspects of the Plant Sale is that mostof the available plants to purchase have been tested and tried by the BCMGA to ensure that they flourish in the local climate.
“Our objective is to help you build a good garden,” Wanda says. “That really is the focus on all the plants that we provide. We look at what will grow well here, what's going to be successful because we don't want to sell and provide things that we know you're going to take home and in a week it's just going to crater.”
The sale is divided into different categories of plants, such as herbs, pollinators, vegetables and the specialized Texas Superstar section, which features plants that have been researched and verified by AgriLife as the best-growing plants in Texas. A favorite area is the Pass-Along Plants. These are plants grown by Master Gardeners and offered at a very reasonable price.
“We have display signs up in front of each group of plants that say what it is, is it good for pollinators, is it better in sun or shade, does it need a lot of water, any of the things that make it important for that plant to thrive,” Wanda says.
For new attendees, Wanda suggests doing some prior research to ensure shoppers have a good idea of what will best suit their needs. Not sure where to start? BCMGA’s Demonstration Idea Garden, or DIG, located at 2619 Highway 21 in Bryan is home to many of the same plants that will be available for purchase at the Plant Sale and is open to the public year-round.
“We welcome anyone to come out [to the DIG] to see what's growing,” Wanda says. “If you’re wondering what these one-gallon plants look like when they reach maturity, sure we provide all of that information on a sign at the Plant Sale, but out here it’s actually growing.”
Paul Beathard, the Master Gardener who oversees the DIG, emphasizes that the purpose of the garden is to provide the community with a real-life example of different garden types and methods. From the Butterfly Garden to the Composting Demonstration Area, each of the areas in the DIG serves a unique purpose to educate the public on eco-friendly gardening practices.
“People are welcome to come check it out at any time,” Paul says. “We hSaturday of the month, but every now and then we’ll have a couple of Master Gardeners out here working on different things in between then. We also do tours for homeschooler groups and things like that.”
The DIG also supplies fresh produce that is donated to Twin City Mission and utilizes a commercial- sized rainwater harvesting system to propagate the grounds. For hands-on experience, community members can reach out to BCMGA and volunteer on one of their designated work days. Resources for the DIG are made possible by the support received from the annual Plant Sale.
For more information about the upcoming 2024 Spring Plant Sale, the DIG or BCMGA, visit brazosmg.com.
