Birmingham Botanical Gardens hosts Spring Plant Sale

With one day to go for the Birmingham Botanical Garden’s Spring Plant Sale, thousands have already walked through isles and isles of plants set up behind Brookwood Village.

Volunteers, many of whom raised some of the plants for sale themselves at the gardens, set up three large tents that were filled with shrubs, trees, herbs, native flowers and plants, orchids, bonsai trees and vegetable plants. Although the threat of severe weather the week before off-set the initial plan for set-up, Birmingham Botanical Gardens public relations coordinator Blake Ells said the preview party and the members-only sale during the first night went very well. 

“We were able to get everything in place and nobody knew any differently,” he said. “We had a very wonderful night on Thursday.”

The sale started with around 100,000 plants, including 200 species of native plants and over 84 varieties of tomato plants, although Ells said he cannot guarantee there are nearly as many remaining because the inventory is selling very fast. 

The funds raised from the plants sold will go towards the garden’s educational programming, including their Discovery Field Trips, which Ells said serves about 10,000 school children in the Birmingham and Bessemer area.

Ells also said this is the third year the Spring Plant Sale has been located behind Brookwood Village and said they have developed a positive relationship with the shopping center. “We really enjoy working with Brookwood Village,” he said. “We really like our home here a lot.”

The Spring Plant Sale's final day is April 9, and it will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.