“Bleeding Hearts for six. Seven? Seven?”
No, it wasn’t some obscure reference to a medical condition, or a cryptic comment on the overly-sentimental.
It was auctioneer Sam Lee, encouraging the bidding on Dicentra spectabilis, better known as the Bleeding Heart flowering plant at the annual Bond Head-Bradford Garden Club Plant Auction, held at the Danube Seniors Leisure Centre on Thursday night.
Just two weeks after the club’s Mother’s Day Plant Sale, when the array of plants available was limited thanks to a cold, wet spring, members had brought in a wide selection of hardy, healthy plants culled from their gardens.
Cornflowers, mint, lilies, spurges, chrysanthemums – most went for $4 or $5 a pot at the fundraiser for the club.
But bidding was fast and furious on other plants, including a coveted mauve phlox, healthy rhubarb plants, and four tulip bulbs that went for an astonishing $20.
There was also plenty of laughter, as some bidders ended up bidding against themselves in their eagerness to add a new plant to the garden.
The next meeting of the Bond Head-Bradford Garden Club will be on June 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Danube centre. A members’ flower show will include Best Rose. Guest speaker is local gardener and educator Sherry Morrow, talking about Natural Plant Defences in Your Garden.
Morrow, who attended the plant auction, brought in extra tomato, pepper and other vegetable plants, initially raised for the gardening program at Bradford District High School, as donation – and ended up buying quite a few plants in the auction to take home.
Still looking for locally-grown plants to fill gaps in the garden?
The Innisfil Garden Club holds its Plant Sale at the South Innisfil Arboretum, Shoreacres Drive and 20 Sideroad in Gilford, this Saturday, May 25 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The event also includes a bake sale, tailgate sale, raffles and a fundraising barbecue.
And on Saturday, June 1, starting at 9 a.m., gardener June Calder holds a sale of plants culled from her exceptional gardens – raising funds for Grandmothers to Grandmothers, supporting the Stephen Lewis Foundation fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. The sale takes place at Calder’s home on County Road 88 in Bond Head.
