NEWS
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Horticulture fundraiser draws community
STORY AN D PHOTO BY JEANETTE WRIGHT
©
CLACKAMAS
o PRINT
e
NEWS EDITOR
W ith th e w eather getting warmer, and green
things sprouting up everywhere, w hat better
way to spend your w eekend th a n planting a
garden?
The annual Horticulture Club plant sale at
Clackam as C om m unity College started on
Friday, and people lined up outside d airm o n t
Hall to buy student-grow n plants for as low as
l dollar for single starts.
The sale started atnoon,butbyioa.m people
were already lining Up, bringing lawn chairs
and smiles, happy to talkw ith other gardeners
about plants.
A bout 500 people cam e to th e sale and
purchased about 14,000 plants, according to
Frank Kilders, th e Horticulture Instructor.
The plant sale proceeds go towards supporting
the horticulture club and student scholarships.
Tables, stands and te n ts covered half th e
Clairmont parking lot and the walkways in front
of th e greenhouses, filled w ith pots and flats of
herbs, vegetables, both annual and perennial
flowers, fuschias, orn am en tal grasses and
shrubs.
Booths from the Clackamas Soil and W ater
Conservation District an d Clackam as Rivet
W ater Providers w ere set up n ex t to th e
sidewalk informing buyers about pollinators,
invasive and non-invasive plants and water
conservation.
C h ristine H ollenbeck is p a rt of public
education outreach at Clackamas River W ater
Providers and has been coming to the sale for
iiyears.
HoUenbeckfinds the sale a great tim e to talk
w ith people about water use.
“T h e se a re th e g ard e n in g p e o p le ,”
Hollenbeck said, “it ’s like a captive audience;
it’s so cool!”
Hollenbeck has bought plants from the sale
many timesbefore, and finds theplants up -to -
par w ith those from high-end greenhouses.
“The students here do a really godd job,”
Hollenbeck said.
Thesalebeingafundraiserisanaddedbonus.
“T hat m akes it an o th er really good thing,
right?” Hollenbeck said. “Soyoufeelgoodabout
w here your m oney w ent. ”
Debby Acuardi, owner of Gino’s Restaurant
and Bar in Portlandstood in line, knittingwhile
waiting for the sale to start.
Acuardi buys basil starts from the CCC plant
sale for th e low prices and quality of plants.
“I canbuy all m y plants here and I don’t have
to plant again, they are such hardy plants. I get
basil all sum m er h o rn them ,” Acuardi said.
This is Acuardi’s fifth year buying from the
sale, and was introduced to itby her friend, who
died of cancer a fewyears prior.
ON THE COVER:
Editorial
“ Now, it’s kind o f a
m em orial: to com e and
s h o p an d th in k about
her,” Acuardi said.
The variety o f plants
available is always slightly
different.
“I love seeing w h en
th e r e ’s o n e o r tw o of
something,” Acuardi said.
“ I’ve found w ild roses
here, you know, just kind
of those random things.
You n ev er know w h a t
you’re going to find.”
La Donna Cox has been
com ing to the plant sale
for 16 years, m ostly to
buy heirloom tom atoes,
h e rb s an d so m etim e s
perennials.
Cox thinks being able
to buy plants and support
the d u b is great.
"I th in k it’s really
im portant,” Cox said. “I
know that just w ithin our
community, there’sbeena
push for sustainability and
being able to have m ore
h a n d s -o n [experience].
A iotof schools are seeing Held on May 11 and 18, the sale offers a large selection of flowers
thebenefitsof gardening, and plants, while also offering an opportunity for members of
an d w orking w ith, like, the community to gather and discuss their hobby.
chickens.”
Some people come to th e sale in search of
organic, sustainable plants th a t give back to
the environment.
Michelle LaVina only buys non-GMO plants
and seeds, and prefers to buy local, so th e CCC
plant sale is a great place to go.
“I know thatthey use local soils and they use-
special seeds, so that is im portant to m e and the
ability for their plants to propagate newplants,
so I lookfor these plants as well,” LaVina said.
Growing plants that support the ground and
provide for future plants is vital to having a
healthy environment, LaVina said.
“Our community’s growing and sol thinkit’s
im portant to have a strong horticulture society
in the area,” LaVina said.
Large companies treating seeds and plants
and spreading th em throughout the m arket is
dangerous to the future oftheearth,said LaVina.
“It’s n o ta n organic situation. It’s just killing
out soil and drying us out,” LaVina said. “O f
course, w e all w ant to live on a farm in a big
area w here there’s no water, and So it’s just a
whole big conglomerate of stuffw e’re doing to
Horticulture fundraiser, by Jonathan Villagomez.
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th e earth th a t isn’t good. And w e’re depleting
out seed supplies.”
Supporting the green future and raisingfunds
aren’t th e only benefits of th e sale, though.
April C hastain, th e d ep a rtm en t chair o f
th e Horticulture Departm ent at OCC, helped
oversee th e holding area, w here people could
leave their first picks and continue shopping.
“Really, it’s kind of a learning experience
for students to gettounderstandgrow ingfora
certaindate,” Chastain said. “They kind of had
to w ork backwards, and kind of decide ‘Okay,
well, I w anna be ready by this date, w hen do*
I have to seed m y crop, w hen do I transplant
it, how do I get it ready by th at date, how do I
organize a retail nursery.”
“It’s kind of th e byproduct of learning th a t
w e’re selling,” Chastain said.
Landscape Club will be holding “best of the
rest” sales for th eir club a n d to raise funds
tow ards th e A nnual Collegiate Landscape
Competition.
The final sales will be May 11 and 18, from 11
a.m .to3p.m .inClairm ont Hall Greenhouse #2.
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May 16, 2018