Springing in the rain
BUTLER TWP — The cold and rain on Saturday didn’t stop people from making their way to the Spring Garden Market and Home Show at Alameda Park.
“We were real concerned about it, but it’s been pretty steady coming in,” said Patty Gibbons of the Butler County Master Gardeners, which puts on the event along with the Butler County Parks and Recreation Department.
“I think it’s the customers that we cater to, mostly gardeners. They’re not afraid of a little rain,” she said.
The annual plant sale along with the food vendors, activities for children, and music attracts perennial consumers.
One of the vendors, Green Valley Nursery in West Sunbury, has been at the show since its inaugural year, selling shrubs, vegetable plants, flowers, hanging baskets, berry bushes and grapevines.
“I love flowers, and I don’t even mind pulling the weeds,” said Betty Himes of Green Valley.
Another returning vendor was Cider House Farm Market of Harmony. The market’s tent had workers Emily Painter and Kyra Neill busying themselves with the plants, which covered perennials and annuals, as well as vegetables ranging from asparagus, rhubarbs, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, and also various meats.
The locality is what draws Cider House to the show year after year.
“It’s a good place to come for publicity because most of the people who come here are local and know what they want,” Painter said.
The show also attracted new vendors. One was the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, which has a nature reserve near Butler.
“We heard so many great things about (the show), that it was one of the best plant sales in the area,” said Roxanne Swann of the society.
“We’re just looking to educate the public on habitat restoration and wildlife support.”
The society grows native plants from seed at its nursery, and keeps a sustainable harvest, refraining from collecting more than 20 percent of its plants each year.
For sale were plants such as the chelone glabra, a good nectar source, and penstemon digitalis, a favorite of butterflies and a deer-resistant plant.
Gibbons emphasized that it takes a team effort to put on the show.
“We could not do this without all the help of the master gardeners,” she said. “We also couldn’t do it without Alameda Park. They put a lot into this. They make a lot of things happen that happen. And then we also couldn’t do it without our sponsors.”
