Press release
On Saturday, May 13, the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club will offer perennial plants through a 3–hour sale in the Arts and Crafts Building on the Crawford County Fairgrounds. It is the only event the club holds for raising money. Members have begun potting and labeling perennial plants for the sale from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The origin of this fundraiser goes back about 25 years when club members realized that the successes in their gardens could be divided and shared with other growers. From that first sale, which was staged on a driveway, the project has expanded.
For several years, miniature roses were ordered to add variety. Another time caladiums were offered. Small trees, berry plants, planters and Mothers’ Day baskets, and potted tomatoes have brought wider options.
For the first time ever, at the end of the building, an area will present assorted second-hand goods like books, magazines, dried materials, pots, vases, ornaments, miniature containers and artificial flowers.
The shelves and even floor areas will be filled with potted perennials, priced moderately. This year buyers can find pawpaw and pussy willow seedlings, a variety of herbs, strawberry plants, blooming columbines, potted and named daylilies and hostas, lilac trees, alliums, ground covers, coreopsis, gaillardia, Walkers’ Low catmint, Solomon’s seal, lily-of-the-valley, liriope, yarrow, tansy, and others. Bulbs such as grape hyacinths and daffodils will appear.
Several checkout lanes should make totaling purchases quicker. Wagons are used to carry selections to a shopper’s vehicle. Members will be on hand to suggest plants for your challenge areas.
The garden club uses profits for many service projects. The list has grown long since the first small flower planting at the entrance to the Bucyrus Community Hospital. Therapy visits shared with the county home for years are now managed at Heartland of Bucyrus. Junior gardener programs for two age levels are supported with funding and club members who are willing to share growing and gardening activities with children.
Earth, Wind and Flowers stood behind the fairgrounds landscaping when it initiated the Company’s Coming beautification work in 1990. In 1999, the club received a state award from the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs for sustaining and continuing the original intention to beautify.
Today, the local garden club has reached its quota with a membership of 30 men and women. Four members are certified flower show judges. There are three Master Gardeners. Two years ago, the club partnered energies with the Bucyrus Rotary Club to plant and maintain the east and west side of the square downtown. Spouses join them to take a turn watering the hanging basket project known as ‘Wilkommen, Wilkommen’. The club actually started the hanging baskets for the city in Coopers’ greenhouses in 1995.
Other contributions include: OAGC Foundation gifts to provide scholarships to horticulture and agriculture students, donations to Mohican Outdoor School, annual gifts to the Crawford Park District, Chamber of Commerce dinner decorations, sponsorship of the Rising Sun Friends Garden Club for women who have been transplanted in Bucyrus from Japan, decorating the Bucyrus Historical Society for the holidays, funding and decorations for the Ohio Bluebird Society, sharing Earth Day educationals at Lowe-Volk Park, providing practical items to B.O.R.N., helping funding for the new building at the fairgrounds, offering a flower show in 2016 at the Toledo and Ohio Central train station, and writing a schedule, providing decorations and then making flower arrangements for the county fair flower show.
Two days after the sale, on May 15, club members will be on the square cleaning and weeding to prepare for the new growing season. That same day at least one member is headed for the Ohio State Fairgrounds to plant around the ODNR kayak pond and the log house. This summer the group has scheduled a Gardeners’ Day Out to tour Crawford County gardens and prairies.