Earth Day seems like the ideal time for a plant sale. It’s a day of grand celebration in honor of planet Earth, with all of its beauty and bounty. The Brooksville Garden Club Earth Day Plant Sale will take place on Saturday, April 22, at Hernando Park, 205 E. Fort Dade Ave., from 9 am-1 pm. Then as guests purchase plants and blooms that have been grown and tended to lovingly by the talented members of the Brooksville Garden Club. They, themselves, will be growing the lives and futures of Hernando young people.
The Brooksville Garden Club is a member of the Florida Federated Garden Clubs and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. The Brooksville Garden Club meets from September through May at noon on the second Wednesday of the month, at Sylvan Grove Clubhouse, 2490 Broad Street, Brooksville. “This is a sale that the club hosts every year, and has throughout its history,” explained Kathy Schemmel, garden club vice president/incoming president. “Earth Day seems the perfect date to continue its tradition.”
While the sale has a new venue, relocating from its original location at Tom Varn Park to Hernando Park, a green space with a bandshell, its beneficiaries remain the same; with the event’s proceeds going to fund the club’s trio of scholarships. “We have a PHSC Scholarship Fund, a Wekiva Youth Camp Scholarship Fund, and a 100 Acre Wood Scholarship Fund,” said Schemmel. “We’ve been giving PHSC scholarships for more than 20 years, originally to benefit students who wanted to become horticulturists. But we’ve expanded the scholarship to benefit other students as well.”
“The Wekiva Youth Camp allows kids to get back to nature,” she added. “And the 100 Acre Wood focuses on wildlife rehabilitation.” Natural beauty also will be displayed through the bountiful exhibit of greenery up for sale at the plant sale.
“These are plants grown by the talented ladies of our garden club,” said Schemmel. “Shrubs, pines, palms, agaves, devil’s backbone, ginger, bromeliads, Florida natives plus anything that will grow here in Florida.”
Moreover, the seasoned gardeners who grow these plants are also veritable fonts of information regarding all things horticultural, and can advise guests on the best types of plants for their landscape, how to care for them, etc. “All of our members have taken national garden club classes,” said Schemmel. “They will be happy to answer any questions that people have.”
As they find the perfect buds for their yards and gardens, guests at the Brooksville Garden Club Earth Day Plant Sale will be helping young people in this area plant the seeds for a fantastic future. “I love it that this garden club sale is raising profits to help people who otherwise couldn’t go to this school and these camps,” said Schemmel. “Just as we’ve been doing for so many years.”
