The Nuts and Bolts of a Plant Sale

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1 May/June 2015 Volume 10, Issue 3 The Nuts and Bolts of a Plant Sale What does it take to put on a plant sale? First, it takes plants, lot o f plants. But to d o a great sale you need great plants. These can t just be plants that you pulled out of the ground the night before the sale and threw in a pot with some dirt. They should be plants that you have dug and divided at least 3 to 4 weeks before the sale. They should be put in the appropriate size pot w ith good potting soil. Then they should be put in a shady place and kept well watered until the sale. Next, it takes lots of great people. The people are needed to set up the tables, check in the plants, price the plants and place them on the tables. After all the plants are in place, the room needs to be cleaned again so it is ready for the customers. The day of the sale the plants all need to be checked to make sure they look OK and that they have a name tag and a price tag. The boxes for the customers to put the plants in need to be ready. (Continued on Page 2 ) Thank you to the SOGHS members who continue to share generously with warm smiles and delicious culinary delights for our refreshment table! It is so much fun to see what tasty items come through the door. Please know your contributions are sincerely appreciated. Thank you, Kathy Rustad SOGHS Hostatality Mortko Presents Hosta How-Tos We were very fortunate to have Rob Mortko present at our April meeting. For those of you who attended or have attended one of Rob s presentations in the past, you know what a great speaker he is. His presentation was titled Growing Betters Hosta- - Lessons Learned from the Greenhouse. He covered many topics related to growing hostas: how m uch water they need; the ideal soil for hostas; should hostas be fertilized; and the best time of the year to split hostas. I ll try to capture the m ain points he made during his presentation about these topics. One of the key things hostas need to grow well is ample water. (Continued on Page 7)

2 The Hosta Leaf Page 2 What We Need to Do to Ensure a Great Plant Sale (Continued from Page 1) We need security people, cashiers, people for the holding table area, people to help customers carry their purchases to their vehicles and sales people to answer people s questions. The people working the sale should park away from the doors to the building. These parking places are for the customers. The sale will be really busy for an hour to an hour and a half. As the sale slows down the plants can be consolidated and moved closer to the front. The emptied area can be cleaned up. When the sale is over any extra plants need to be taken care of, and the building needs a final cleaning. Set up can take four to five hours and is done the night before. The sale will run about three hours. Before all this we need a committee to oversee everything, and sub- committees are needed to handle the details. Sub- committees are needed for set- up; to provide food for the set- up crew and the workers the day of the sale; for helping people who need help digging and dividing their hostas; and to distribute pots and potting soil. This year we have decided not to purchase any plants. If club members purchase plants for the sale the plants will be accepted as donations. We encourage club members to dig and divide their hostas for the sale. If each club member donates 3-6 hostas, we will have a fantastic sale. Also, please don t bring a lot of common hostas or a lot of green hostas as they do not sell well and we will not get the cost of the potting soil out of them. The club will supply pots and potting soil if needed. Please do not take more than you will return for the sale. More Plant Sale Information If you are donating plants to the plant sale., would you please let Mona Keehn chum721@gmail.com or Dave Cocker Djspaniel@hotmail.com know what varieties you will be donating. This way we can put them on the Master Pricing List and make sure that we have a table sign for them. Your reward for donating plants and helping with set up is that you get to shop early on Friday night after set up. Please don t come Saturday morning and expect to buy plants before we open to the public. Also, if you want to shop during the sale, the plants should be paid for and taken to your car before you return to work. It looks bad for our club members to have plants stashed under tables and in corners. We hope everyone participates and has a great time. You can meet new people and share your expertise with others. This is how we have a GREAT PLANT SALE! Mona Keehn Please bring your plants to the Horticulture Building at the Fairgrounds between 2 and 6 p.m. on Friday, June 5. Call Mona or Dave if this time does not work for you. Potting soil and pots will be available at the Open House at Cindy Tomasheks on May 26. Potting soil also will be available at Mona Keehn s 1635 Chippewa Dr NW, Rochester, MN and Susy Olsen s th Ave NW, Rochester, MN Now is the time to dig. We need your donations, so please consider donating. Contact Dave or Mona if you need help.

3 The Hosta Leaf Page 3 SOGHS 2015 Survey SOGHS would like your feedback! Please take a few minutes and complete the survey. There is one overall experience question in addition to 5 sections of questions: Education, Tours, Hospitality, Social Gatherings, and Member Fundraisers Education Tours 1. What topics are you interested in? 2. What level of knowledge are you looking for? Basic / Intermediate / Advanced 3. What suggestions do you have for a member benefit (as an example printed material/publication, workshop/class, etc.)? 4. Do you feel you are getting enough education about hostas? Y / N 5. What is your favorite education topic you have attended so far? We would like your input on both the bus tours and the member garden tours. Bus Tours 1. With regard to the annual SOGHS bus tour what is your primary reason for going? (check all that apply) a. Shopping for Hosta and companion plants b. Visiting gardens c. Enjoying a fun day with other hostaholics d. I don't go on bus tours 2. If you do not go on bus tours what is the primary reason? 3. What limitations should be placed on distance and/or length of day? 4. How many shopping stops would you prefer? 5. How much time would you like to see allotted for each shopping stop? 6. If you have favorite gardens or nurseries for car pool or bus tours please list names and locations? Member Garden Tours 1. With regard to member garden tours: a. Have you put your garden on the tour? Y / N b. Would you do it again? Y / N c. If you answered Yes to either question, please provide your name so we can contact you in the future 2. Have the following been working for you? a. 3 gardens in June and 3 in July for 2 days each? Y / N b. 5:00-8:30 PM as usual? Y / N i. If No, what time would work better? c. Do Tuesday & Wednesday work for you? Y / N 3. What would you like to see changed? (Survey Continued on Page 4)

4 The Hosta Leaf Page 4 Survey Continued From Page 3 Hospitality 1. Please select each door prize(s) you would enjoy winning: a) Garden Art b) Plant c) Garden equipment d) Gift Certificate - Nursery e) Gift Certificate - Restaurant f) Food Basket g) Wine- themed prize h) Other: 2. Please feel free to expand on or add to the list of Door Prize ideas above (i.e. favorite Nursery, favorite restaurant, preferred plant, other ideas welcome!) Social Gatherings 1. Have you attended the Snowflake Gala? Y / N 2. Have you attended Coffee & Catalogs? Y / N 3. Would you attend an event that is a happy hour / social opportunity? Y / N Member Fundraisers 1. Do you typically order Hostas of the Year (HOTY) hostas? Y / N a. If yes, how satisfied have you been with the offerings in terms of price performance, with 1 being very dissatisfied, 3 being neutral, and 5 being very satisfied? b. If No, please indicate key reasons for not ordering: (check all that apply) i. No room to plant them ii. Too expensive iii. Not interested in the varieties offered 2. Do you typically order Scratch & Dent hostas? Y / N a. If yes, how satisfied have you been with the offerings in terms of price performance, with 1 being very dissatisfied, 3 being neutral, and 5 being very satisfied? b. If No, please indicate key reasons for not ordering: (check all that apply) i. No room to plant them ii. Too expensive iii. Not interested in the varieties offered 3. If we had SOGHS logo wear available for purchase again, what would you be most likely to order? a. Baseball- type hat b. Sun- type hat c. T- shirt d. Sweatshirt e. Denim shirt f. None of the above g. Other, please specify (Survey Continued on Page 5)

5 The Hosta Leaf Page 5 Survey Continued From Page 4 4. If we had SOGHS logo wear available for purchase again, what price ranges would be okay? (check all that apply) a. $10- $20 b. $20- $30 c. $30- $40 d. $40- $50 Overall Experience 1. What is your best / peak experience as a SOGHS member? Please mail your completed survey to: Kim Greene th Lane SW Oronoco, MN Photos Needed to Provide Historical References for SOGHS Perhaps you've seen those wonderful scrapbooks that were created several years ago to capture our yearly SOGHS events. Linda Orleff, who has since moved away, created them, and we lost our very talented scrapbooker! We are beginning an effort to catch up where those scrapbooks left off. Unless someone with scrapbooking skills steps forward to help (for which we would be hostally grateful), this project will take a different approach than typically used for visually recording our activities. We're planning to create photo books (using Shutterfly most likely), so now we're asking for your help. If anyone has pictures from any of the SOGHS events over the past several years, please consider sharing them for possible use in one of these books. We will start with a photo book for 2014, then work back as far as we can to try to recapture the big events of the past several years. Regarding the Midwest Convention that our organization hosted in 2012, that will probably be a book on its own, assuming we get sufficient photos to make it complete. So, please help by sending photos (with the event and year identified for each photo) to Linda Brech (mnbrech@charter.net) or Jan Gerke (janice.gerke@gmail.com). For any questions or if you'd like to join this committee to preserve the annual highlights of the organization, please send one of us a note! - Jan Gerke

6 The Hosta Leaf Page 6 Please Consider Hosting a Garden Tour One of my favorite things about belonging to SOGHS is getting to see what other members have done in their gardens. What a great way to get ideas from other shade gardeners. We have a unique o pportunity in o ur group. We can go on other garden tours only to be disappointed that we can t grow those plants because we don t have enough sun. Granted, almost every garden has a sunny area, but as hosta enthusiasts we tend to gravitate to the shady areas to check them out. We don t have any volunteers for garden tours at this point. Please consider showing your garden. We are all gardeners and realize that there are always going to be areas with new plants, developing areas that don t look just right, a w eedy area that just won t cooperate no matter what we do. In other words, a garden is never perfect. Size doesn t matter. Be proud of what you have accomplished at this point and share your garden with us. We would love to come for a relaxing stroll and admire your unique handiwork.- - Mona Keehn Remember to Sign Up for the Bus Tour Welcome New IF YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR THE JUNE 13 BUS TOUR TO WISCONSIN PLEASE DO SO BY MAY 1 W HEN IT WILL BE O PENED UP FOR NON- MEMBERS OF SOGHS. CALL DEANNA NASH AT O R SEND A CHECK FOR $30 TO DEANNA NASH, ST SW, ROCHESTER, MN Members Shades of Green Hosta Society would like to welcome its newest members. They are: IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON GOING ON THE OVERNIGHT CAR POOL TOUR JULY 31- AUG 1, CALL DEANNA TO SIGN UP OR GET INFORMATION. WE PROMISE YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT 2 DAYS!! Connie Parrett from Rochester WE STILL NEED GARDENS FOR THE MEMBER GARDEN TOURS IN JUNE AND JULY. PLEASE, PLEASE CALL O R E- MAIL DEANNA TO GET ON THE SCHEDULE. Judy Scheller also from Welch I WILL BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY APRIL 21 - MAY 2 BUT W ILL CHECK MY (MAMASANINRST@AOL.COM) WHILE I AM GONE!!! Deanna Nash Norine Vedeges:From Madison, WI (Sister to member Joyce Malinowski) Carolyn Poylio from Welch Deb Staley from Rochester

7 The Hosta Leaf Page 7 Tips for Hosta Care - Continued from Page 1 We have been told that hostas need a minimum of one inch of water per week to grow well. While this can be a good guideline, one of the things Rob pointed out is that the overall weather conditions are very important to understand in order to provide hostas with ample amounts of water. A key item to look at when determining how much water to provide is the evapotranspiration rate. Evapotranspiration is the amount of water lost to the atmosphere from the ground surface. This varies a lot depending on the temperature and wind conditions. Paying attention to more than just rainfall rates can be very helpful in ensuring your hostas receive enough water. Rob asked how many people fertilize their hostas; it was about 50/50. While fertilizer makes your hostas grow bigger, one thing to keep in mind is the plants will have more foliage, so they will require more water. It s a trade- off so think about how much watering you want to do before going wild with the fertilizer. If you do fertilize, a well balanced fertilizer ( ) should be sufficient for your hostas. A tip that I think was new to a number of our hostaholics is what makes the most optimal soil. Sand isn t ideal because it doesn t hold water, yet in wet years or wet areas, sand can be a blessing because it drains. Clay isn t ideal because it is so dense and holds lots of water, yet in dry years this can be a good thing. We have all been told to amend our soil before planting plants, and we all do, don t we? Of course! A tip that Rob shared is to mix bark in your soil. This provides proper drainage and also helps to keep the soil light and airy which is good for root growth. A bark- based soil mixture is especially important if you are growing hostas in containers. This is most important for overwintering as the most common cause of death to hostas grown in containers is death by drowning in the winter. One last tip from Rob s presentation I will share with you concerns the question, What is the best time of the year to split hostas? The answer is in the fall. The reasons for this are many. In the spring hostas are busy putting out their foliage. They do not set out any new roots until they are fully flushed out. This is why fall is the most optimal time of the year to split hostas because they are not putting any new foliage out and this is the time of the year when they set out new roots. He recommends splitting them in early September, about four to six weeks prior to the first killing frost. With that said, we are hoping you DO split your hostas THIS spring so we can have a very fruitful Plant Sale!! I hope you find these tips to be helpful in our upcoming growing season. Kim Greene, President

8 The Hosta Leaf Page 8 Take Time to Pay Attention to Your Plants This is such a fun time of the year! Every day is a new adventure as we walk around our gardens and see what has emerged or which of the early blooming plants are providing a showcase with their ever so welcome flowers. One thing I found myself observing and reflecting on the other weekend when we had that gloriously warm weather is how plants are in constant movement. It was a bit breezy and I found it quite fascinating observing how much the trees were in constant movement with even a gentle breeze. Even with no leaves on their branches to catch the wind, they moved so gracefully in the breeze. When I looked closer, the same was true for smaller plants, constantly in movement. This movement goes beyond just wind. I find it very interesting to observe how my wildflower garden changes from year to year. Plants move themselves around, finding the ideal growing conditions. When I first planted the garden years ago, the coneflower was more in the center of the wildflower garden. Over the years it has moved to the edge of the garden that is nearest the trees, so they receive early morning light and bright light throughout the day, but they don t get baked by the hot afternoon sun. The rudbekia, on the other hand, prefer to be out in the sun all day long. Plants are masters at finding their ideal growing conditions. Another fun one for me to watch is a Heritage Birch tree that is next to my deck and formal pond. It has found my formal pond, slipping its roots between the stones that surround the pond and the liner underneath. By doing this it can drink at its leisure, which I see by how much water I need to add to this pond some days. We need to listen to our plants and given them what they need. I recently received a question from one of our members who was concerned about losing a tree. With the tree being gone, the hostas in the area will now receive early to mid- morning sun. My reaction was, Wow, what a perfect location for hostas! While we think of hostas as shade plants, they actually do better with more light, especially the beautiful east morning sun that is gentle on plants. This really goes back to listening to our plants, and giving them what they need. I have the most excellent H. Praying Hands specimen that grows in full sun. It takes the hot sun of mid- day and doesn t get a break until the sun is about to set. If you look at the plant specifications for this hosta, what is recommended is part shade (4-6 hours direct sun) to full shade (less than 4 hours direct sun). This hosta gets nothing of the kind, and it is doing fantastic. Don t be afraid to move your hostas around. Pay attention to them and given them what they are asking for. In doing so, you will be greatly rewarded. I wish each of you a fantastic spring and hope to see you at the Open House and/or at setup for our plant sale. We re certainly hoping for a large number of plant contributions to make this sale an awesome one! It has been a few years since we have had a survey of the members, so the board of directors has put together a survey. The survey is included in this newsletter and will be available on- line soon. Please take a few minutes and either fill out the survey in the newsletter and mail it to me or complete the on- line survey. We would greatly appreciate your time in doing so. We want to hear from you! It s by listening to our members that we can make the organization the best it can be. Happy Spring Everyone, Kim Greene President

9 SOGHS Calendar of Events May 1 - Public sign-up for June SOGHS bus tour May 21 - Spring Open House at Cindy Tomashek s. Workshop: Identify Native Perennials 4:30PM May 30 - Garden Fair 9AM to 3PM at The History Center of Olmsted County June 6 - SOGHS Annual Hosta and Shade Plant Sale, Bldg 40, Olmsted County Fairgrounds June 9 - SOGHS Workshop "Fairy vs Miniature Gardening" by Karen Noltee at her house 6:00-8:00PM June 13 - SOGHS bus trip June 15 - Newsletter deadline for July/August newsletter June AHS National Convention, Raleigh, NC June 23 and 24 - Member's only garden tour (5:00 PM - 8:30 PM) July Midwest Regional Hosta Convention, Dubuque, IA July 11 - SOGHS Cement Sphere Workshop by Karin Marek & Susy Olsen at Karin's house 9:30 11:30 AM For more listings, please go to the website: SOGHS.org