Plant Sale 2025 Report

6/11/2025

Many thanks to the Team Leads, Captains, Co-captains and their team members for all of their hard work over the past year. It takes a village to run an event like this and it was great to see everyone working together to meet the goals of the Task Force and make the 2025 Plant Sale a great success!

I would also like to mention Molly O'Rourke. I can't thank her enough for agreeing to accept the position of Plant Sale Committee Co-Chair this year. Molly's many strengths include excellent organizational and leadership skills and we have developed a great partnership over the past year. We appreciated the guidance of Karen Randall, who led the Plant Sale Task Force that the Board appointed after the 2024 sale. We also want to acknowledge the continued support of the Plant Sale Committee by the RCMG Board. It's wonderful that the Board values the benefits the sale provides to our members and the community beyond being our largest fundraising activity each year.

Based on the work of the Plant Sale Task Force, the purpose of the Plant Sale is to help ensure that the RCMG Program has the necessary resources to be healthy and sustainable. The goals of the Plant Sale are to raise funds; inspire people to garden; build community; provide a broad range of quality plants; provide educational opportunities and accessible volunteer hours; and to build connections and increase the visibility of the program.

2025 Highlights

Attendance

There were over 200 people waiting in line when the sale started and we had 1,456 attendees - a new record!

Volunteer Data

• 79 – Master Gardeners who volunteered to grow plants for the sale

• 103 – Volunteers involved in Set-Up Day activities (many worked multiple shifts and/or both days), including 28 Team Leads, Captains and Co-Captains

• 145 – Volunteers involved in Sale Day activities (many worked multiple shifts), including 28 Team Leads, Captains and Co-Captains

Plant Sale Financial Information

• $50,839.50 – Total Revenue

• $21,994.00 – Estimated Expenses

• $28,845.50 – Estimated Net Revenue

Plant Data

8,881 – Total Plants Offered for Sale, including:

• Annuals - 1,663 (18.7% of all plants)

• Natives - 2,947 (33.5%)

• Perennials - 1,158 (13%)

• Houseplants - 478 (5.3%)

• Herbs - 499 (5.6%)

• Tomatoes - 1,130 (12.7%)

• Vegetables - 979 (11%)

8,640 – Total Plants Sold

Almost all plants were gone by 12:30 PM!

241 – Total Plants Remaining after the Sale

• 85 - Plants donated to the Minnesota Horticultural Society

• 49 - Plants that will be overwintered

• 7 - Unusable plants

New for 2025

• Carolyn Cherry took on the new role of Plant Sale Treasurer and did a great job.

• We established a pilot program to allow Sale Day volunteers working the 1st shift or all day to take a short break at 10 AM to shop.

• The Member Pre-Sale worked really well to schedule the delivery/pick-up of over 100 member orders on the Monday prior to the sale at the Barn.

2026 PLANT SALE

Looking ahead already to next year, we are starting to plan.

• We reserved Aldrich Arena for the 2026 Plant Sale, which will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2026.

• Linda Minter and Mary Parenteau have done amazing work leading the Plant Selection Team for many years. They have decided it's time to step down and we're grateful to Nancy Berry and Simba Blood for agreeing to take over the plant selection responsibilities for the 2026 Plant Sale.

• Surveys have been sent to all Set-Up and Sale Day volunteers and Plant Category Captains. A subset of the Plant Sale Team members will review the data and direct it to the appropriate team for consideration/action. Feedback from RCMG volunteers and Plant Sale customers will be considered as we start planning for the 2026 Plant Sale.

Cheryl Brady

Plant Sale Committee Co-Chair