BATON ROUGE, La. – East Baton Rouge Master Gardeners will hold their annual plant sale earlier this year, according to Master Gardener Donna Montgomery.

The show will be held at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden, located at 4560 Essen Lane, on Sat., April 13, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sun., April 14, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This will substitute for the widely popular Mother’s Day event held in previous years.

“Each Tuesday since October the Master Gardeners have been meeting weekly to propagate plants for their spring plant sale,” Montgomery said.

The Plant Makers, as this group of volunteers refer to themselves, have been working to provide the public with over 5,000 plants and 100 varieties, she said.

“You will find Burden rosebushes, amsonias, coleus, verbenas, torenias, daylilies and irises, cacti and succulents, angel trumpets, pentas, lantanas, hibiscus, hanging baskets, figs and blueberries to name a few,” Montgomery said, adding, “You’ll also find some LSU Super Plants.”

The annual plant sale is the perfect place to pick up a Mother’s Day gift, choose a hanging basket for a plant lover or an herb pot for the cook in the family, she said.

Throughout the year, LSU AgCenter horticulturists provide expert advice to Master Gardeners, which is a program of the LSU AgCenter. The sale will feature the five favorite plants of AgCenter horticulturists Bob Souvestre, Dan Gill and Allen Owings.

In addition to the large variety of plants, Master Gardeners will be available to help with your selections and give advice on planting. Have a sickly plant at home? Bring a specimen to the plant health clinic where experts will diagnose your plant.

An additional treat will be story time for children in the rose garden with WAFB 9news weathercaster Diane Deaton, beginning at 9 a.m. with the last reading at 10:30 a.m. Afterward children can visit the children’s booth and pot a plant to take home while parents shop.

“It’s never too early to introduce gardening to your children and grandchildren,” Montgomery said.

The Master Gardener plant sale website has photos of available plants at www.mgplantsale.com.

“The money derived from the sale goes back into educational activities for the community, such as plant health clinics, establishing school gardens, educational classes at local libraries, children’s programs and supporting projects at Burden Center to name just a few,” Montgomery said.

Master Gardeners are volunteers of the LSU AgCenter. They receive training and resources from AgCenter faculty and in return volunteer their time to educate the gardening public.

“Anyone with a willingness to learn and a desire to help others can become a Master Gardener,” Montgomery said.

Interested individuals can call their local LSU AgCenter extension office for times and dates of the next Master Gardener class.

Johnny Morgan