Annual spring plant sale blooms at Northwestern

REGION 7 — Northwestern Regional High School will be in full bloom this weekend.

The high school’s agricultural students will hold their annual plant sale Saturday, May 8, and Sunday, May 9, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

The sale serves as the biggest fundraiser of the year for the school district’s local chapter of the National FFA Organization, an agricultural education program sponsored by the federal Department of Education.

This weekend’s event will feature more than 2,000 plants for sale, including dozens of varieties of annuals, mixed flower pots, vegetables, bedding plants, hanging vines, sunflowers and tomato plants.

“We carry a wide variety of tomato plants,� Dan Santalla, a sophomore at Northwestern, told The Journal Monday. “This year we have six different kinds.�

While the fruited plant may be a popular choice among those who stop by the sale each year, it does not hold the top spot.

“Hanging plants are our biggest seller. A lot of people come for them each year,� Jen Crossman, junior and Winsted resident, said.

The students began to prepare for this year’s sale in January, when hundreds of “plugs,� or very young plants, began to arrive at the school’s large greenhouse.

“We would take a bunch each week and we would replant them directly into a pot, depending on how fast they would grow,� Joanna Sypniewski, who is also a junior and Winsted resident, said. “They had to be planted at certain times and dates so they would be ready in time for the sale.�

But the hard work was just beginning. Over the last four months, the students have spent countless hours — much of it during the free time they have available during their school day as well as after school — tending to the young plants that now fill the school’s greenhouse with colors and floral aromas.

“A normal day consists of a lot of watering, plant care and creating mixed pots,� Dan said.

Jen added that with warmer weather and the sun higher in the sky, the students need to keep a careful eye on the hanging plants.

“On really sunny days, the hangers can get really dry. So, sometimes we have to water them twice a day,� she said.

In addition, the students also spend a great deal of time “dead heading� the flowering plants.

Joanna said dead heading consists of removing the flowers that pop up far too early on a plant. This ensures that when it comes time for the plants to go up for sale, there will be no withered flowers marring the otherwise vibrant colors of the young annual.

“So, we just get rid of those blossoms that are too big, too soon,� she said.

The students said all their hard work pays off on the weekend of the sale, when parents and other area residents stop by to view their handiwork. Dan said adults are often pleasantly surprised at the sheer number, variety and high quality of the plants available.

“Also, a lot of the time people come in and are surprised we are so knowledgeable,� Dan said. “But that is because we have been studying in our plant science class all year.�

Jen agreed.

“Sometimes when they get here, they are surprised to find out it is a student plant sale,� she said.

The sale, and the work that leads up to it, is overseen by Northwestern’s plant science teacher, Erick Wildes. But the students said that Wilde’s wife was due to have a baby any time now, and he did not expect to be at the sale this weekend.

While there will be other adults on hand to help out the students, this weekend the young botanists are in charge.

“This is a critical time,� Dan said. “And the students, alone, are responsible.�