By selling various kinds of plants and flowers at the annual plant sale, SAVE (Students Against Violating the Earth) aims to raise money and bring awareness to the high school’s greenhouse.
2023 marks the fourth year of hosting the plant sale, according to SAVE advisor Kimberly Wilson.
“It’s our fourth year, and this year, we have more plants than ever,” Wilson said.
The plant sale is a way for SAVE to fund their greenhouse and the projects in it.
“The reason we do the plant sale is to raise money to support the actual facility, the greenhouse itself,” Wilson said.
Wilson said that proceeds from the sale go to supplies such as fuel, fertilizer and other materials needed to care for the plants and maintain the greenhouse.
According to Wilson, SAVE chooses plants out of a catalog and orders “plugs,” or small-sprouted plants, to raise in the greenhouse. Wilson said that the plants the club chooses are both visually appealing and easier to grow in the greenhouse.
“It’s really a lot of things that are very hearty and easy to grow in a greenhouse because we’re not professionals [and] we’re learning,” Wilson said. “And also things that are appealing to people, so very often it’s really pretty colors, bright pinks and reds and yellows.”
According to SAVE member Cate Haigh, the colorful flowers tend to be popular because of the time of year the plant sale is typically held.
“They make great Mother’s Day gifts. We do the plant sale right around Mother’s Day so people come to buy flowers for their moms,” Haigh said.
SAVE member Emily Rychlak said that the plant sales were also meant to be a way to get community involvement with the greenhouse.
“We wanted to have the community be a part of the greenhouse too because it was kind of a new addition just a few years ago,” Rychlak said.
According to Rychlak, Wilson sometimes offers tours of the greenhouse to customers, allowing the community to see what the greenhouse is used for and what students do in it.
According to Wilson, a group of students come in every week to maintain the growing plants. This work ranges from watering and trimming the plants to tidying up the greenhouse and maintaining a pollinator garden.
Haigh said the plant sale sold out quickly last year, so the club increased their stock this year. “This year we basically doubled what we had last year,” Haigh said.