Horticulture students recently held their annual plant sale in the Sterling High School Greenhouse from May 6 to May 8. Horticulture students worked diligently in the greenhouse to ensure that all the plants were ready to be sold during their plant sale.
Students started to pot the plants at the end of February. These students all had different jobs to work on when they visited the greenhouse, but senior Gabriella Mango, the greenhouse manager, managed the plants and watered them when necessary. Periodically, horticulture students plucked the flowers from all the plants. This practice ensured that during the sale all plants are not fully matured and are not flowering until after they are purchased and taken home. This practice also helps the plant grow healthier and stronger as well as aids in productivity.
Mango expressed, “The most challenging part has been our shaders; our plants range from perennials to annuals, from part sun, to full sun. So it’s hard to make every plant happy, but we made it work.”
The plants were priced reasonably at six dollars for four inch pots, six dollars for six inch pots, and 15 dollars for the hanging baskets. They offered many types of plants including annuals, perennials, herbs, garden vegetables, hanging baskets, and house plants.
Junior Sarah Doughty explained, “My favorite part about working in the greenhouse while preparing for the plant sale was seeing how fast the plants actually grew when my class wouldn’t go into the greenhouse for a few weeks and also helping with the planting process by planting seed and filling pots with soil.”
Throughout the year, horticulture students have been learning parts of the plants, marketing, and sale skills. The students were required to take some creative liberty to try and create promotion flyers to practice their advertising skills. Horticulture students were hands on when learning about the specific needs of each plant.
Horticulture teacher Megan Stanley shared, “I want students to see how far a little hard work and prep can go, especially if they’re interested and invested in the outcome. We really only spent two weeks planting all the plants for the sale while we’ve spent time watering, fertilizing and maintaining the plants. They’re relatively low maintenance, but see a great return on our investments.”
The plant sale was extremely successful with a profit over $1,700 more than last year. Overall, this year’s sale was perfect and executed exactly as desired.
