CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 03/15/06

‘Unique’ plants take center stage at club sale

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

Hands flew through the dirt as Amy Conway and Katie Sandlin poked holes in the soil. Faith Conway handed them plugs, and they popped the tiny plants in the holes and patted them in place.

And then they were done, one more tray of six-pack flats ready for the upcoming plant sale on March 31-April 2 and April 7- 9.

Every year, the University of Georgia’s Horticulture Club holds a plant sale as its main fundraising event at its greenhouse complex on Riverbend Road in Athens. This year, according to Amy Conway, the club’s vice president and no relation to club president Faith Conway, they’ll be selling annuals and perennials.

The sale will also include vegetable plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers and a few herbs such as basil, oregano and dill. Customers can also pick up trees and shrubs.

“We provide a wide selection of unique plants,” Amy Conway said. “They’re not just your standard basics.”

This year’s variations include tiny edible strawberries and tropical plants.

“This is the first year we’ve had tropical plants,” Faith Conway said. “We divided tropical plants for Dr. [Paul] Thomas. We left him with two of everything, and we took the rest for the sale. It was literally like a jungle when we got in his greenhouse.”

Thomas is a horticulture professor with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The UGA Horticulture Club usually attracts students majoring in horticulture, landscape ground management and landscape architecture, although students in any discipline may join. Students learn how to grow plants from seeds and plugs as well as how to take cuttings and propagate plants. They also grow annuals for the club’s two yearly plant sales.

“This has been the most energetic horticulture club the department has had,” said Thomas, a UGA Cooperative Extension horticulturist. “They’re doing a very good thing.”

For the sale, the club gets many of its plants from wholesale nurseries. “By providing a good, quality plant, we’re helping the community,” Faith Conway said.

The community doesn’t just gain knowledge and exposure to new plant varieties through the students. They also help them by asking interesting – and sometimes challenging – questions about the plants.

“Most people walk in and say to the students, ‘well, I have this spot and it gets shade,’” Amy Conway said. “And we try really hard to fit a plant to their spot.”

The horticulture club’s plant sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1 and from 1- 5 p.m. Sunday, April 2. It will be held again from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 7-8 and from 1-5 p.m. Sunday, April 9.

(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)

Stephanie Schupska is the communications coordinator with the University of Georgia Honors College.

Experts/Sources:
Paul A. Thomas
Faith Conway
Amy Conway
Katie Sandlin
The holiday season can be a time of anticipation and joy, but balancing multiple commitments and personalities across families and friends can be a source of stress for hosts and visitors alike. Like preparing parts of the meal ahead of time to spend more of the holiday with guests, taking time ahead of the day to set expectations can go a long way to ensuring enjoyable gatherings, said Ted Futris, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialist and professor of human development and family science in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. CAES News
Manage holiday stress with kindness, boundaries 11/21/24 Maria M. Lameiras
The holiday season can be a time of anticipation and joy, but balancing multiple commitments and personalities across families and friends can be a source of stress for hosts and visitors alike. Much like preparing parts of the meal ahead of time allows you to spend more of the holiday with guests, setting expectations ahead of the celebration can go a long way to ensuring enjoyable gatherings, said Ted Futris, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialist and professor of human development and family science.
Conner Hall CAES News
CAES welcomes 2024 cohort of Rural Scholars 11/20/24 Maria M. Lameiras
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences welcomed its fourth cohort of students chosen for the CAES Rural Scholars Program this fall just weeks after celebrating the program's first graduation. Georgia Orman, one of four inaugural Rural Scholars in CAES, graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education. The new scholars for 2024, all from Georgia, are Ela Ash of Ocilla, Lauren E. Coley of Cochran, Amelia Housley of Canon, and London O’Steen of Ambrose.
Women play a vital role in rural American farming, but much of that work is "invisible," like raising children or household chores, according to a new UGA study. (Getty Images) CAES News
The women and stress behind rural farming in America 11/19/24 Leigh Hataway
Recent research from the University of Georgia suggests the unique stresses from farm life may be taking a toll on one of the pillars of the families that make your dinners possible: the women who keep farming families running. “If we don’t control our food sources, we don’t control our health and safety,” said Anna Scheyett, lead author of the study and a professor in UGA’s School of Social Work. “It’s a matter of national security that farmers survive in the United States. And one of the big factors in helping farms survive is women.”
Mergoum at Creature Comforts CAES News
That's the spirit! 11/18/24 Maria M. Lameiras, Claire Sanders Kinnard
Wheat breeders spend years meticulously crossing varieties to coax the best traits out of each species, carefully propagating plant varieties that are healthier, heartier and better suited for the environments where they are grown. Professional brewmasters are equally painstaking when choosing the components that will give their beers a specific flavor profile.
Contest-winning concept becomes viable business for alumnus who developed solar-powered, self-propelled chicken coop as a student. CAES News
Poultry in motion 11/14/24 Sean Montgomery
Chris Ayers emerged from his orange and black rough-terrain vehicle with an ear-to-ear grin. “This is Chiktopia,” he said, sweeping his arm wide to indicate the back half of a 3,600-square-foot warehouse on his family’s farm in Ball Ground, Georgia. “This is where I manufacture and assemble the chicken coops. Everything is done entirely from over here.”
UGA Grand Farm Site Plan web CAES News
UGA Grand Farm wins stage two of 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund competition 11/13/24 Jordan Powers
Startups in the agricultural technology sector face significant barriers on the path to establishment, including access to training and capital. These barriers are heightened for underrepresented entrepreneurs seeking to start new companies. The University of Georgia Grand Farm, part of a historic partnership between the University of Georgia and Fargo, North Dakota-based Grand Farm, aims to change that.