Issue 48, Article 4: Grand Plant Sale

Autumn 2012, Issue 48

This year’s HHPS Grand Plant Sale, held at Homewood Road Church Hall in St Albans on 2nd June, was a great success. The hall was packed with donated plants and there was a steady flow of customers all morning, many leaving with armfuls of greenery. The Grand Total raised was £965.14, a fantastic achievement, so a big thankyou to all who donated plants and to those who contributed their time to sort, price and sell them. All your hard work is much appreciated and the end result justified the effort.

Nectar Stall

Considering the number of events being held around the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the Grand Plant Sale did better than expected. This year for the first time we decided to have a stall that focused on nectar-rich plants to raise awareness of the plight of the dwindling number of our bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. The Nectar Stall was set up with a range of plants available for purchase, along with a display of photos and information accompanied by lists of suitable plants to help our pollinating friends. We had some great feedback from customers – many said what a great idea this was and a nice way of helping raise awareness. Some people had not realised how much trouble the pollinating insects were in, especially our bees, and without them our gardens would be in dire straits.

The best thing was that we sold everything on our Nectar Stall, and people were asking if we had any more plants. Having received positive feedback from a few HPS members about making the Nectar Stall a regular part of our annual plant sale, I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile contacting other HPS groups to share the idea. If they don’t already have a Nectar Stall at their plant sales, perhaps we could help them set one up – let’s try to do something on a national basis for our pollinators. Oh well, it’s time to sit outside with a nice cup of tea, watching our pollinating friends busy at work in my garden. Please let us know what you think – contact me or the Newsletter Editor with your ideas.

Steve Dudley