plant sale – Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Durham County

By Melinda Heigel, with Lissa Lutz, Lisa Nadler, and Bev Tisci, NC State Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteers of Durham County

Our annual Friends of Durham County Master Gardener plant sale is in the books! If you joined us on April 11th for the big event, we want to offer you a little behind the scenes intel about what it takes to bring you some of the gorgeous plants you purchased and revisit the day through the stunning images of our Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteer and photojournalist Allie Mullin. If you weren’t there, we want to whet your appetite for 2027!

A large group of diverse individuals smiling together in an indoor setting, wearing green aprons, standing in front of tables filled with various plants in pots.

Just a fraction of the Extension Master Gardener volunteers responsible for bringing you over 4,000 plants at our recent annual plant sale. Here, the group is smiling and excited to serve just minutes before the sale begins. (Image credit: Allie Mullin)

Plant Sale Success: It’s All in the Setup

Two women examining plant information while standing in front of a display of potted plants.

A woman carrying a tray of young plants in plastic pots, walking through a corridor with wooden doors and plant displays.

Volunteers transported, unloaded, set up, and labeled all the plants in just one day prior to the sale. (Image credit: Allie Mullin)

It literally takes a community of Extension Master Gardener volunteers to put on a blockbuster plant sale. Over 75 volunteers and multiple teams with expertise in every imaginable area spent a year preparing for one Saturday-morning event! Plant sale Co-Chair Lissa Lutz credits the success of this year’s event to these volunteers. As a dedicated, long-time coordinator of the sale, she shared this year saw “a core group of seasoned veterans but also new ideas and tremendous depth of expertise offered by new team members. A few of their novel approaches and accomplishments for the 2026 sale included the following. (To be sure, there were tons more….)

The Vegetable Team offered more plants for sale than ever before and introduced new compact varieties to work in smaller-sized environments.
The Houseplants Team tweaked their plant curation and offered the most appropriate plants–all in unique pots.
The Native Plant Team had a dedicated group of seed starters who produced an astonishing selection of native plants, many from locally collected seeds.
The Propagation Team multiplied the bounty and contributed unique, well-tended plants to this year’s event.
The Plant Divisions Team potted up countless robust, consistent quality flats.
The Communications Teams got out the word in advance about our inventory so shoppers could make a wish list.
Both the Volunteer Management and Hospitality Teams made sure that our plant pros were fresh, available, and standing by to help you in any way.
The Checkout Team efficiently checked out shoppers with a new pricing system based on container size that hopefully simplified the customer experience.

Additional Innovations that Made the 2026 Plant Sale Sizzle

A person holding plant information sheets, showcasing various flowers with descriptions, indoor setting with a white brick wall and greenery in the background.

A woman wearing a green apron stands by a table with potted plants, engaging with two people in a gardening workshop setting.

(Left to right) This year we wanted you to have a better look at what you were buying. Clearer plant signs with photos and easy-to-read details enhanced the shoppers’ experience. Our plant sale Co-Chair Marcia Kirinus was dedicated solely to ensuring we were offering the best plants possible. (Image credit: Allie Mullin)

Enhanced Signage. We introduced new signage throughout the sale that gave our shoppers more consistent information on all plants and veggies complete with growing conditions, interesting plant facts, and photos of mature/blooming specimens. We even designated keystone plants, a sub-category of native plants that are essential to the local food web.
Quality Assurance Leader. Plant sale Co-Chair Marcia Kirinus filled a new role this year as our quality assurance “czar.” With her years of experience in professional and research greenhouses along with her Master Gardner volunteer bona fides, she shared her knowledge with all our our volunteer growers to produce the highest quality plants. This included setting up light carts for seed starting to the final trimming and pruning to make each plant look its best. She was instrumental in teaching all seed starters, new and experienced, how to grow the healthiest, hardiest plants.
Customer service enhancements. More volunteer runners helped shoppers to their cars with their plants. Another novel idea? The plant parking lot. We also introduced a new holding area where shoppers could “park” plants they intended to buy while they continued to browse and shop.

Sale Day Excitement

If you know Carly Simon’s tune “Anticipation,” hum it to yourself when surveying the photos below. While the line for the sale lived up to its reputation (our first customer arrived at 8:30 am for the 10:00 am start), many Extension Master Gardener volunteers were on hand to check lists of plants for our customers, hand out free seeds, answer a host of gardening inquires, and keep the crowd pumped up.

There were all sorts of folks–those with a printed and highlighted list of plants they wanted to take home, new gardeners looking to build a landscape, veggie lovers searching for just the right tomato, and simply the plant curious. Those in line enjoyed the beauty of our award-winning Demo Garden and wanted to find some of the garden specimens inside at the sale to take home. Without doubt, the mood was celebratory for the more than 320 community members who showed up to shop for plants and support our mission.

What those in line couldn’t see was the excitement of the volunteers huddling up for one last briefing before the sale began. Our plant sale volunteers, (Volunteer Management Team leader Lisa Nadler rocking her signature whirligig hat below) had efficiently staged over 4,000 plants in one day, and Nadler placed our plant experts strategically throughout the sale to assist you. And of course, all those plants lined up and ready to make their debut.

A long line of people wrapping around a garden. People are holding cardboard boxes. Two men sitting in an ornamental garden setting at an info table with a sign reading "Ask A Master Gardener." A smiling woman standing in a line. A group of diverse people wearing aprons being briefed by a woman in a propeller hat. A table with green table cloth full of lush green vegetable plants.

(Image credit: Allie Mullin)

Ready, Set, Shop!

A man surrounded by lush green plants at a plant sale holds a cardboard box. A smiling woman holding a tray of potted green plants. A group of people gathered around tables indoors shopping for potted plants. A woman in a hijab admiring plants with two women in the background looking on. Volunteer sit at a table, one giving a woman holding a box of plants a thumbs up sign. Two women in green aprons behind a table talking with a woman on the opposite side of table. Smiling woman in green apron talkings with another woman.

Full boxes and full hearts. Volunteers and community shoppers interact at the sale. (Lower right) Vegetable Team leader Bev Tisci shares her expertise and the joy of growing edibles. (Image credit: Allie Mullin)

As the sale began, the atmosphere inside the building was electric with smiles all around. As you stepped inside, the fantastic scents of the veggie and herb room tickled your nose long before you reached its threshold. The vast abundance of plants, some of which were in full spring bloom, were a “masterpiece for the eyes” according to one native plant fan.

Bev Tisci, Leader of the Veggie Team and Seed Starters Group had a ball educating community members about growing edibles and introducing the new mini-vegetables. After consulting with one shopper who picked up a couple of plants and went on her way, Tisci recalled the woman later returned and jokingly yelled out to her, “I used to like you!” Puzzled, Tisci asked, “Oh, no! What did I do?” The laughing shopper showed her a box brimming with plants–far more than she’d ever intended to purchase. Like all plant lovers, she just couldn’t resist and left the sale excited about all the vegetables she be eating later this summer.

The Proof is in the Plants–and People

A woman wearing a light blue shirt is examining small potted plants on a table in a brightly lit room, while others are visible in the background.

Sign on the door of the Durham County Agriculture Building indicating that the plant sale is over, thanking visitors, and stating 'See you next year!'

(Left to right) Plant sale Co-Chair Lissa Lutz busy prepping for the sale. After a banner sell-out, we closed the 2026 sale with gratitude. (Image credit: Allie Mullin)

Thanks to both our community of Extension Master Gardener volunteers and the overwhelming support of Durham plant enthusiasts, this year’s event was the most successful yet. The proceeds of the sale will fund our work of providing research-based gardening education to the residents of Durham County and beyond. Reflecting on the event since the dust has settled, Co-Chair Lissa Lutz, put it this way:

“The plant sale really exemplifies the spirit of the Master Gardener community, with so many people coming together in so many different ways, each offering time and talents that together creates a whole that is bigger than the sum of its parts. It is for this reason that I continue to play a role in this crazy-amazing event!”

We can’t wait to see you at next spring’s sale. Keep an eye out on our website’s plant sale tab on our menu where we’ll be posting our 2027 date.

Resources and Additional Information

Keystone Plants From Our 2026 Plant Sale

Mini or Compact Vegetables

3-Part Series: Starting Seeds Indoors with a Light Cart–Article 1, Article 2, Article 3

Edited by Melinda Heigel, NC State Extension Master Gardener ^SMvolunteer of Durham County

Article Short Link https://wp.me/p2nIr1-7ox

By Martha Keehner Engelke, NC State Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteer of Durham County

On the morning of April 5, 2025, people lined up for blocks in front of the Durham County Cooperative Extension Building at 721 Foster Street in Durham, North Carolina. The weather was perfect and the crowd was friendly and anticipatory. They were waiting for the Friends of Durham County Extension Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale to begin. Master Gardener volunteers (EMGVs) were stationed outside to welcome visitors and explain the procedures for purchasing plants.

Deandra Scott Hill expressed the joy she experiences every year as the plant sale opens:

“I absolutely enjoy interacting with the community as they line up, with their lists and questions early on Saturday morning. I am slightly amazed every year when I see the line of people stretched down the block, excited to go home with some new plants for their homes and gardens. As I went up and down the line, people shared their wish lists with me, their favorite plants, their concerns about those darn Durham deer and other other gardening challenges. I, in turn, got to share the knowledge and resources I have received from my continuing training with the Master Gardener program.” (Deandra Scott Hill)

At 10 am the doors opened and the sale began! This year’s plant sale built on lessons learned from previous sales. Lissa Lutz has chaired the plant sale committee for many years. She sums up the changes she has noted over the years:

“Having been involved with the plant sale for so many years.., I can really appreciate the evolution it has gone through. The best part is the intentionality with which we are now selecting and growing plants for the sale. Gone are the days where we accepted any donated plants, plopped into any available pot, and prepared for drastic markdowns halfway into the sale in hopes of clearing out the inventory. This year saw a thoughtfully curated list of native plants started from seed… Houseplants were carefully chosen and screened to represent the most desirable plants. Divided plants were selected with attention to variety, quantity and consistency. Most importantly, every “grower” on the team focused on the quality and health of their products. We wanted to sell plants we thought everybody should have, and we advertised that to the public.” (Lissa Lutz)

Stephanie Claggion was responsible for assigning and training the volunteers. Each room was staffed by seasoned EMGVs. They were able to answer questions and recommend new plants that a buyer might not have considered. “Rovers” were assigned to troubleshoot problems, answer questions, and offer assistance where it was needed.

What started as a plant sale blossomed into something bigger-an opportunity for new friendships, community connections and even a touch of romance. Two couples that met at a previous plant sale and agreed to be featured in this story bought new plants and commemorated the beginning of their relationship.

The plant sale was an opportunity for individuals, families, and nonhuman friends to spend quality time together. There were children and even a dog that came to the sale. While the dog remained outside, it was given a drink of water by an EMGV, and the children were entertained while their parents shopped. People with mobility issues were helped with a hand or a chair.

For many shoppers the first stop was the houseplants section. Customers took home over 100 house plants, many were planted in decorative containers donated by EMGVs. The monsteras were perhaps the most popular plant, followed by several low(er) light varieties, including Pothos, spider, and snake plants.

House plant team members were ready and eager to answer questions and help customers of all ages.

After finishing their visit to houseplants, shoppers moved on to native plants with their list in hand. Creeping Phlox (Phlox stolonifera); Tickseed (Coreopsis auriculata ‘Nana’); Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum); Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata); Coneflowers (Rudbeckia species); Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and Blanketflower (Gaillardia pulchella) were popular. Customers and EMGVs bonded over their mutual commitment to improving the ecosystem by planting more natives.

The next stop was often vegetables. This area has a long history of presenting old and new varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and other veggies as well as herbs. People were eager to take home healthy plants and were encouraged to try new varieties by EMGVs who were experienced vegetable growers. Novice growers appreciated printed information on the “hardening off” period of vegetable gardening, and new friends wondered how they might fit all these veggies in one box.

Non-native plants, annuals, tropicals and trees were also available. Wish lists expanded as many folks found plants they didn’t realize they had to have.

The next step was check out. This is the stop where a plant sale can turn into a nightmare. Everyone seems to finish shopping at the same time. Long lines can make happy shoppers wonder if the check out line is worth the wait. This didn’t happen. Kat Causey and her team had a well-trained staff of talliers and checkers who efficiently processed orders. When the line seemed to be getting long, Kat sprang into action. The flow pattern was reassessed and revised and new talliers were recruited. The role of “traffic control specialist” was created to troubleshoot bottlenecks and offer encouragement. A team of volunteers composed primarily by the current EMGV interns helped people take their treasures to their cars and offered boxes and wagons. One of the checkers (Lisa Nadler) even got an offer from someone to buy her hat!

Photos of the talliers, members of the checkout team, and Lisa Nadler, whose hat was not for sale!

Somewhere between 11:00 and 11:30 all the plants were gone. No price reductions, no tossing out plants that were not in good condition. What was remaining were new friendships, a feeling of satisfaction, and thoughts about how the money that was collected will be used in the future.

As our extraordinary Extension Agent, Ashley Troth says:

I never cease to be amazed by what we accomplish together at our annual Plant Sale. The Extension Master Gardeners work so hard all year selecting just the right varieties of veggies and natives, growing plants from seed, and propagating beloved varieties, all to be ready for one day. And while this is a fundraiser for us, it’s so much more than that. We’re honored to bring folks together for the love of plants – to have questions answered, spark new ideas, and help people find that just right new plant friend to bring home to their gardens. The Plant Sale allows us as Master Gardeners to come together and build relationships both with our fellow volunteers and with our wider Durham Community. To be able to do this while raising money for our program to provide research-based gardening programming across Durham is one of the highlights of my job.

The plant sale was a great success. It raised funds to support future gardening projects with community partners. And, we all probably became a little healthier since research has demonstrated that gardening has a positive impact on physical and mental health ^1,2. Stay tuned for the Durham Master Gardener Plant Sale of 2026!

A special thanks and appreciation to Allie Mullin who shares her photography skills with us. Her talent helps us to chronicle our history and relive the joy of a job well done! Unless indicated, all the photos featured in this article are credited to her.