Well, it is that time of year again to start your gardens, or at least be thinking about starting your gardens as well as the landscaping around your home.

And there's no better way to get some great ideas, as well as some things to start growing.

Then going to a plant sale.

And there's a wonderful plant sale coming up real soon on Saturday, May 16th, and here to talk to us about it is Susan.

Stephen, Susan, thank you so much for joining us.

I love talking about the Garden Club.

And I love talking about plants, so it's perfect.

Yes.

And speaking of the garden club, it's the River Valley Garden Club, which puts this on every year.

So tell us about the club itself.

Who can be a part of the club?

What are you.

What are you guys do?

Anyone can be a part of the club that's interested.

I joined about 12 years ago when I retired, because up to that point I was working, and I was.

It didn't have time to join a garden club.

And at the time, I thought, oh, I don't want to join the garden club.

It's a bunch of old ladies.

But then I met the president and she's terrific.

Elizabeth Palace and a lot of the members, and they were terrific.

And it's a very interesting group of people.

One thing is when I joined, they were about 20, 25 members and we've meet in people's homes now.

We have more than 100 members.

It's huge.

So any it's like an event once a month.

And the garden, club plant sale has plants that each of us has grown in our own yards and our own gardens.

So if you have more than 100 members, you have at least 100 variety of plants.

Some of the people who are members, live on a farm and they're bringing, you know, vegetables and things that they grow.

I don't live on a farm.

I have a garden, but I live kind of in a wooded area, so I am mostly shade.

So we separate the plants according to sun and shade.

So the people aren't buying the wrong thing.

When I started gardening, I would go to a little garden center and I'd see all these lovely flowers.

Oh, those are for me.

I'm going to buy them, bring them home and of course they needed full sun.

They would droop, but it didn't grow for me.

So I finally figure it out.

Shade sun are totally different environments now.

That's one of the important things that you mention, is that people will actually get to talk to those who have grown these starts.

Yes.

So they're able to understand, like what they need in order to be hopefully successful in growing their own.

It's great to get advice when you go to this plant sale.

There's all kinds of members there that are happy to, talk your ear off because we all love gardening.

So yes, you can get advice and you can learn more about the plants.

We actually label every plant with the name, whether it's sun and shade and any particular things that they need to know.

And then we put our initials in the corner so that if somebody has a question and they look at the plant, they can bring it as a member.

It's like, oh, this is Carol Davis, this plant.

She's over there.

Ask her.

So that's right.

But a lot of what happens is there's a lot of camaraderie.

People are having fun.

And, trading pieces of information.

The other thing I was going to say is that we divide the plants by, not by size, but we have trees and one section bushes in a different section and then perennials in a different section.

And annuals and yet again, a different section.

So you're not wasting time looking at the wrong things.

It does really help if you know what you're looking for or the type of thing you're looking for.

It gives you a chance to go and, it it's only two hours because there's kind of a mad dash, from what I understand, to get things.

People line up before 10 a.m., and that's 10 a.m.

East Coast time.

So if you're coming from Michigan City, it's 9 to 11 people line up.

We have a little rope, and then we open the rope and they go running in.

And the members are not permitted to buy plants until the very end of the sale.

Or we buy our own plants.

Okay.

So that's not permitted.

And there's plenty there.

And and from my understanding, it's rain or shine.

Right.

There's a roof.

You've been there.

Yep.

There's a roof.

And and we take credit cards.

That's one of the newer things.

It used to be, cash or people would write checks.

Now we have the machinery to take credit cards, and a lot of it is just fun and getting advice.

Now, I, a couple of years ago, I came up with our host, Kelly, and we had such a wonderful time meeting you guys.

And right, we each came away with a few different plants, and mine has actually grown quite a bit.

Since then.

And so it's just been fun to be a part of.

Now, as far as your garden club, looking back at that, you guys are kind of you meet in, Berrien Springs or a Marion County area.

Tell us where you meet.

Well, a lot of the meetings are actually field trips.

So we meet up with our cars.

Sometimes we carpool and we'll go to, you know, a big, garden area.

Berrien Springs would be the.

I'm trying to remember the name of the, is it Love Creek has a lovely area.

We've gone there, we've gone to Fernwood Gardens, so we've gone to lots of field trips.

So a lot of them are away.

When we actually have a meeting with a speaker, it's usually held at the Harbert Community Church, which is in Berrien County, and they have a huge, room with tables.

Oh, and the other thing is most of the people at the club are good bakers.

And all of our meetings include a lovely, sweet table.

That's.

And the meetings usually start at one with eating.

And then there's the actual meeting and then there's the event.

So there's either a speaker or some kind of demonstration.

I once did a propagation workshop.

A lot of the things that I bring, I propagate a lot of people just dig things up out of the dirt.

I do that too.

But a lot of my bushes, I take cuttings and I propagate them, and it takes a year or two, but I label them and then I eventually bring them to the garden sale.

Now, to be a part of the club, do you have to, live in a certain area or is it.

Oh, really?

Not really.

It's open to anyone.

We have people from Indiana.

We have people from Michigan.

I think we might even have some people from Illinois.

We also have people I mentioned there, people who live on a farm.

There are people who are retired.

There are people who are just weekend people.

They live in Chicago, but they just come out on weekends.

So there's a lot of flexibility.

I can't remember what the dues is, but it's very low.

And really, we just ask for people that have an interest in gardening.

And you're not required to go to X number of meetings.

Yeah.

If you look at the schedule and you say, oh, I can't go that day or I'm that interested in that subject, you don't have to go.

You go when you want to go.

If people want to find out more information, where is the best place to do that?

Our website.

And you could probably put that up.

Yeah.

River Valley Garden Club.

Very good.

We're looking forward to the plant sale as always.

Hopefully people will get there early so that they have, a chance to get what they want when they go.

But more than anything, to talk and and to commune with others.

And, and so it's a wonderful thing to just share information is.

Yes.

I didn't mention that it is technically a fund raiser, although I often say it's more of a fund raiser because we don't price the plants in a very expensive way.

They're very reasonable.

But it is a fund raiser and we do give some school scholarships out to high school students that are interested in a college degree that is relating to forestry or, farming or plants.

And we also, go out and do plantings and places like nursing homes and places that really need and assistance.

So the group does lots of those kinds of service programs.

But again, it's not a requirement.

You don't have to sign up for X number of year, hours a year.

It's people who want to do that, you know.

Well, the plant sale is coming up Saturday, May 16th.

It's the River Valley Garden Club's plant sale, and it's happening from 10 a.m.

to noon eastern time at, Harbert Community Park.

And, Susan, thank you so much for sharing.

We we hope it's a beautiful day and that people can come together and just, learn a lot.

Great.

I hope your watchers come.

Thank you.