Courtesy photo
Last year’s Duvall Civic Club Plant Sale attracted plenty of shoppers.

This Saturday, May 10, marks the annual Plant and Garden Art Sale, hosted by the Duvall Civic Club/Friends of the Library. For 36 years Snoqualmie Valley residents have been lining up behind the Duvall Library on the day of the sale, with wagons, boxes or bags in hand, awaiting the opening announcement.

This year may draw even more customers, due to a growing interest in vegetable gardening. The Plant and Garden Art Sale always has lots of vegetable and herb starts, as well as a variety of shrubs, plants and trees. With family grocery budgets really being tested this past year, more people are interested in growing their own food to save dollars. Additionally, there is an increasing awareness of the sustainable food movement spreading across the country and a growing appreciation of being able to feed your family fruit and vegetables grown without chemicals. Having your own vegetable garden is a fun and educational way to accomplish this, with the added bonus of saving money.

Meg Cochrane has been selling her tomato plants at the plant sale for as long as she can remember, and they always sell out by mid-day. Rocky Prairie Herb Gardens is another regular vendor at the plant sale, with a variety of tomatoes, vegetables and herb plants.

With so much “green” emphasis in the news lately, plant sale customers can choose from a variety of green Mother’s Day gifts, ready to pop right in the ground. Who doesn’t appreciate using fresh herbs in the kitchen? However, not everyone has the patience to start plants or herbs from seed so the plant sale might be a good place to pick up ingredients for a summer-long supply of cooking herbs. Once again, the Plant and Garden Art Sale also will offer a variety of handcrafted art items from local artists.

“Some people come for the plants, others come for the baked goods and others for the barrel raffle,” stated Sue Juhre, co-president of the Duvall Civic Club/Friends of the Library. “The value of the barrel is over $1,000 and that’s very tempting, when tickets are just a dollar.”

Juhre was referring to the annual raffle barrel, which has been on display at the library, where tickets are already being sold. This year’s barrel contents include lots of gift certificates from local businesses such as Duvall Grill, Many Hands of Healing massage, Rocking E Feeds, Sound Tree Solutions, and Duvall Barber Shop as well as gardening supplies and gift items from True Value, Duvall Flower and Gifts, Duvall Drugs and Tuxedo’s Junction.

The annual plant sale is the club’s largest fundraiser of the year.

“We hope to raise $5,000 or $6,000,” Juhre stated.

The club’s share of monies raised are used throughout the year to support Duvall Library expansion, programs and furnishings, local scholarship programs, and Valley organizations such as Sno-Valley Seniors, Hopelink, Duvall Cultural Commission and Riverview Educational Foundation.

“This year we have a couple of new things – the Duvall Farmers Market is bringing their popcorn machine and donating all their popcorn proceeds to us,” she stated. “Also, Whole Foods market donated lot of plant pots, which club members are filling with baked goodies to sell. One of our club members, Claire Eaton, is a teacher and her class decorated the pots, so it’s a group effort!

“We have all kinds of plants, and as usual, we’ll have a Master Gardener here to help people identify plants suitable for their gardens.”

The Plant and Garden Art Sale runs from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 10 behind the Duvall Library.