Fall plant sale Saturday in Abilene

Jackie Sledge
·3 min read

Happy October! We finally are getting to some days of lower temperatures after surviving record-breaking temperatures topping the century mark and no rain much of the summer.

We probably all have plants that survived the cold winters but were not strong enough to survive the heat this year. The drought may have caused some of you to have problems with plumbing or your house foundation, and your established beautiful plants, shrubs and trees were dug up to make necessary repairs.

Whether you need to make changes to your landscape because of weather, repairs, or to make changes for the sake of change, the Big Country Master Gardener Association is here to help you. We are having our annual Fall Plant Sale this week and will have plants to make your landscape beautiful and enjoyable again.

All the plants available at the sale will be advertised online, allowing you to see and learn about the plants, make your selections and pay for the plants. You can place your order online between Wednesday and noon Friday, and you will be assigned a time to pick up your order between2-6 p.m. Friday afternoon at the Modern Living Mall on the Taylor County Expo Center grounds.

On Saturday, we will have an in-person sale from8 a.m. to noon at the Modern Living Mall – just like we have had for years. During the sale Saturday, you will have the opportunity to shop select and pay for your plants. Master Gardeners will be there to answer your questions and help you find selections that will fit your needs.

We will have plants in all categories for you to purchase – annuals, perennials, shrubs, grasses, vegetables, trees, etc. The plants selected for the sale are cultivars that do well in our hot, dry West Texas climate, but we also looked for plants that survive the freezing temperatures too.

Here are some of the plants we will have:

  • Abelia – Abelia grandiflora. We will have several varieties of this attractive shrub that is evergreen and blooms in early spring.

  • Lantana – Lantana montevidensis. There will be Trailing Lavender, Trailing White, New Gold, and Pink Camara so you will surely find one variety that fits into your landscape.

  • Salvia – Salvia greggii, Salvia nemorosa, Salvia farinacea and Salvia microphylia. We will have several varieties and colors of salvias that will be hardy, easily grown pollinator plants.

  • Flame Acanthus – Anisacanthus. This is a hardy perennial that we will have in Dark Orange/Red and Pumpkin Peachy Orange varieties.

  • Daylily. Hemerocallis. Everyone needs these plants in their landscapes, and there will be nine varieties to add lots of color to your landscape.

  • Turk’s Cap – Malvaviscus. We will have Red, Pink and Big Mama Red.

  • Annuals. There will be a variety of cool season annuals to provide color and interest in the landscape during the fall and winter months. We have ordered quite a few annuals such as pansies, snapdragons, dianthus, flowering cabbage and flowering kale.

  • Grasses. We will have Cassian, Hameln, Little Bunny, Carex Bowles Golden, and Carex texensis varieties to add interest to your landscape.

  • Vegetables. You can plant spinach, lettuce, broccoli or Brussels sprouts in a winter veggie garden or add to your pots or perennial beds.

  • And so many other wonderful cultivars that I do not have space to mention in this article.

Remember that fall is a great time to plant so your new plants can establish strong root systems and be ready for you to enjoy next spring.

Please watch the Big Country Master Gardener Association Facebook page for the list of plants as well as online and in-person sale information. There also will be a link to the Fall Plant Sale on our website at bcmgtx.org. You do not want to miss this opportunity to purchase plants that will do well in our area.

If you have landscape questions, Master Gardeners can help. Call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 for hotline calls or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com.

Hope to see you through the online sale or at the in-person plant sale.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Fall plant sale Saturday in Abilene