Grafton Garden Club Plant Sale and Raffle

On Saturday, May 13, 2023, the Grafton Garden Club is holding their annual Plant Sale and Raffle on the Grafton Common from 9am to 1pm. The proceeds from this event provide the money for scholarships that directly benefit Grafton students furthering their education in some form of gardening or horticulture pursuits and grants for Grafton Public School teachers for projects and creative efforts designed to motivate the students’ interest in plant and soil sciences, botany, horticulture, and the environment.

The Plant Sale and Raffle will have annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables, and house plants available for sale and you can come, see, and purchase your plants in person. They are expecting to have free tree saplings from the Grafton Department of Public Works to give out, as well as some wildflower seed packets from the Grafton RTC that were handed out during Grafton Clean-up Day on April 22, 2023, while supplies last. The Grafton Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization totally run by volunteers so that more money can be provided for the club’s purposes: to promote interest in, and knowledge of, gardening; and to provide scholarships and grants.

As usual, the Grafton Garden Club members will have items to purchase on the Bake Table.

On the raffle table for 2023, there are many items available. Here is a list of what is expected to be available as prizes:

· $250 gift card from Wegmans

· Trailer load of fertilizer from Ridge Valley Stables

· Handmade bench

· A 5-gallon bucket of gardening stuff, (bag of 10-7-7 fertilizer, Herb Grow Kit, Bucket organizer for tools, Yeti drinkware, gardening gloves, and plant labels), and a wheelbarrow tool holder that attaches to the handles (and it holds your drinks, too!) from Koopmans

· A lot of gardening-related items from Buy Nothing Grafton Facebook group (jigsaw puzzles, Tervis insulated cups with flowers on them, sunflower-decorated pot and hand trowel, a Groot pot, seeds, strawberry plant, various pots and some indoor plants, so far)

· $30 gift cards for Swirls and Scoops

· $10 gift certificate for Yummy Mummy Bakery in Westborough

· Two autographed copies of “King of the Ferns: The Australian Staghorn Fern Experience”

· Something interesting from The Saddle Shed

· Various items from Grafton Garden Club members

The Grafton Garden Club occasionally receives an email to the info@graftongardenclub.org email that is a request to come and talk with the club members about topics of gardening or environmental interest. In early March of this year, they received one asking if they were interested in an author coming for a talk who would be in the area. He recently had a book published and he would be in the “mid-north coast” area and would like to talk and be allowed to sell copies of his book. Okay, that’s not so strange. The cost was very reasonable, so that didn’t set off bells. The fact that the book is called “King of the Ferns: The Australian Staghorn Fern Experience” was the first clue…but it was still possibly a world-wide tour, so maybe…then there was the portion of the original email about having spoken to many fern clubs in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Ipswich areas. So, the President of the club replied and informed the author that the Grafton Garden Club was in the United States of America and that they assumed he was in Australia. The reply email also asked that he let them know if he was indeed going to be touring in the USA as the presentation sounded interesting and would be a great possibility to kick off the 2023-2024 year in September. And in closing, the President (who is also the chair of the raffle table and likes asking people to donate items to support the club and their efforts) asked if the author would like to donate a copy of his book to the upcoming Plant Sale and Raffle. He replied in the affirmative and within 10 days, two books arrived from Cashmere, QLD (Queensland, Australia) for the raffle table.

So, come to the Grafton Garden Club’s Plant Sale and Raffle on Saturday, May 13, 2023, on the Grafton Common and support a local organization that supports students and teachers in Grafton and take a chance on a book…or a gift certificate, or some plants, or fertilizer, or a bench to sit and relax and enjoy the scenery, or any of the other items of interest. The Grafton Garden Club, where gardeners grow!