The Mississippi State University Horticulture Club will host its annual spring sale today and tomorrow. The sale will be conducted in the greenhouses behind Dorman Hall from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. today and 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. tomorrow.
The sale will provide the public with an opportunity to purchase summer annuals, perennials, herbs, shrubs, trees, baskets and ferns, most of which are grown on campus. Horticulture Club T-shirts will also be for sale. Prices range from $2 to $12.
Senior landscape contracting major David Newsom serves as greenhouse manager for the club and said the sale is not just about making money.
“The whole point of the sale is a learning experience,” he said. “It’s for a good cause – learning, supporting learning and MSU.”
Plant and soil sciences professor Brian Trader said the money raised from the sale will benefit members of the Horticulture Club and the community.
“We have sales to raise money for trips and competitions. We also raise money for scholarships,” he said. “We host departmental picnics; we’re a major sponsor for that.”
Explaining the process of organizing the sale, Newsom said, “As greenhouse manager, I’m in charge of orchestrating the production of the plants for sale.”
He said he selects and orders all the plants for each sale, then calls a club meeting for the members to come together to plant. He takes care of the plants and keeps inventory. He said when it comes time to sell the plants, everyone helps in setting up for the event.
“We’re knowledgeable. We know what we’re talking about when we sell you a plant,” he said. “Our staff will help choose plants. We’ll assist with planting as far as telling people where things should or shouldn’t be planted.”
The Horticulture Club also hosts a mum sale in the fall and a poinsettia sale around Christmas.
The greenhouse is home to plants such as tomatoes, basil, heat tolerant lobelia plant, porterweed, spider flowers and plotus joey. Newsom said the plants to be sold at this sale are not all typical.
“We have a diversity of plant material,” he said. “We have stuff you can’t get from Lowes or Wal-Mart.”
Trader said diversity is one of the purposes of the club.
“One of the missions is to raise awareness of horticulture. We aren’t just plants and trees; we’re herbs and vegetables too,” he said.
Trader said the club has existed at MSU for a little over 60 years.
“We have documentation and pictures from like the ’70s, so it’s been around for a long time,” he said.
The group meets about every other week to discuss conferences, community service projects and times to be arranged to work in the greenhouse. They also travel to conferences and competitions across America.
“It’s a joy seeing them learn through hands-on experiences and witness their learning through competitions they have with other universities,” Trader said.
Senior horticulture major Hayley Hannah serves as the club’s president. She said she loves the interaction with the people she has met through the club.
“I’ve met so many people that share my passion here and on our trips,” she said.
Hannah said the Horticulture Club is not just for plants and science majors.
“We have a diverse club. We have business, engineering, landscape majors and community members,” Trader said. “There’s no fee, no dues. Just show up. It’s open to anyone.”
Newsom said he loves people as diverse as the plants they raise.
“A lot of these people I wouldn’t ordinarily meet or be friends with,” he said. “I’ve made these friends because we share a love for this.”
Committed to the greater good, the club has taken on projects of donating plants to nursing homes, hospitals and towns.
“We’ve donated to towns for median beds and worked on simple designs telling them what needs to go where,” Newsom said.
Hannah voiced her excitement for the people and mission of the Horticulture Club.
“I just love it,” she said. “I feel like I’ve really found how I can help the community.”