One thing that goes over well are heirloom tomato plants, these are open pollinated so those that buy them can save their own seed. Some of the variety names are quite catchy, these sell out fast. In turn your students could research these varieties and maybe give a bit of history when selling them. Maybe you could ask if anyone on the Canadian Exchange forum would be willing to donate a few seeds for a SASE to help our future gardeners.

Annette

Here is a link that might be useful: Canadian Exchange

One thing I can think of is to know your customers. Many times over I've seen people being intimidated about plants because they don't know how to plant it or take care of it. So do provide very easy and yet detailed instructions on care - like where to plant it.

Hi Budge - all good advice above!! I have sold plants with my yard sales several times. Having pictures or examples of the grown plant is good for perennials. Do you have connections with the local hort. club? They would be a good source for local pricing, plus you might get the added bonus of some knowledgeable helpers. Advertising locally on Kijiji for pots, old venetian blinds(for markers) etc. would save you some $'s. Approach your local hardware stores or nurseries for donations of starter mix, with the firm promise to advertise them as sponsors. Last year, I was back in College (adult) and I brought in the remainders of my Sweet Million tomato seeds, with an 18-pack jiffy starter, to start in a sunny 2nd storey window. Most of these women had never started anything from seed, so it was very interesting.
Another thought, perhaps you are ahead of me on this, but depending on the age of your students, you may have some budding web designers in the group. That could be a great way to get the word out locally, if there is a local link. The above nurseries/hardware stores might have their own web-site, and grant you a page for progress reports. Just a few ideas.

Nancy.

Great ideas - thank you.

We actually have a sponsor already. A student's family owns a wholesale place and we get pots and soil from them.

Mini-blinds are a great idea - I have one that I've been meaning to replace forever. Now I can recycle it.

We will definitely do tomatoes. I'm really unsure of when to start the seeds (there seems to be conflicting views on this), but I guess that is the 1st year for doing anything- you learn from your mistakes.

ianna, that is the best advice. I sent the 1st plants home that the kids had grown thinking they would tell their parents about them and how to care for them. I got at least 5 parents calling to ask about what to do with them. Now I write out everything.

I used to sell from my home a few times a year and also from the church I attend (still do).

I got more money selling plants in "Real" pots than in plastic cups etc. Anything in a cup with a mini-blinds tag I could only get .50 cents or at most a dollar for.
We get way more money at church with "real" pots, growing organic and using "real" tags. I agree about heirloom tomatoes. At church we grow a large variety of heirlooms (more than anywhere else in the city) and it has given us a great reputation. We also grow a wide variety of basils and other herbs - and many unusual but easy vegetables you can't get anywhere else.
Of course we also sell annuals, perennials, houseplants and the rest but we make the most, fast money on veggies and herbs.

When I was a homeroom mother many years ago we held a plant sale to coincide with Mother's Day and the biggest sellers were the petunias, and the herbs. The kids really seemed to like to rub the leaves and smell the fragrance. Good luck.

This probably isn't what you're looking for since it sounds like you prefer to sell self-grown plants. But, just FYI - I've done Touch of Nature's fundraisers for a couple years now. Quite profitable for a very small amount of work. Plants have all grown well.

The only problem with them is they don't seem to switch out the plants much from year to year. Not sure we can sell the same plants for the third year in a row.

Still, good company, good service and good profits. :-)

An idea for your garden class - what about winter sowing? There is a forum here on GW that has loads of good information. The kids could then sell their seedlings at your plant sale. If you are tied in with local garden clubs they might even let the kids collect seeds for your winter sowing from their gardens.

When I was in the business of growing and selling, I use to grow and donate herbs plants for my church. The ladies used the money to help intercity children with summer activities.

Herbs I grew from seed for the sale: (Genovese Basil, Garden Thyme, Dill, Onion Chives, Italian Parsley, Curly Parsley)
Herbs I grew from cuttings for the sale: (Italian Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Lavender, Peppermint)

Genovese Basil was always the top seller. They always ran out. Then the next best sellers were, Italian Parlsey, Rosemary, Italian Oregano, Lavender and Thyme.

Another thing, when pricing plants, along with the name label (white), different colored plant labels which correspond with prices, eg. pink $1, blue $2, yellow $3 and so on. For more expensive or rare green, these are individually priced on these labels. Who ever is taking the money just pulls these and adds them up, just has to read the price on the green tags. These colored labels are saved for the next plant sale. Have a chart with all the colored labels and prices on display. This saves a lot of time.

Annette

stick with best sellers like tomatos and herbs.

I tried to do this to help raise money for the greyhound (dog) rescue two years ago.

I took a truckload of plants that I paid for myself. I donated all the proceeds of what I did sell, but I couldn't return the unsold plants to the wholesale nursery. I gave away many plants to the volunteers at the shelter and planted some here, too.

I put together annuals, herbs and perennials that looked good together - created an info sheet with photos of each plant, put labels with each plant, etc. I worked for weeks to put everything together.

The rescue invited the community, but very few showed up unless they owned a greyhound. So, I had a small group of people who weren't into planting containers or plants in a border or garden.

So... it really is going to depend upon the crowd that attends. I raised only $200+/- for the rescue.

BTW, it was great fun! Charm came along and all the greyhounds got along great and the owners were great. I don't regret trying! :-)

Cameron

I like that you mentioned timing neverenough. I have to agree. At church our biggest sale is right around our last frost date (which is earlier for us). We generally sell up wards to $3,000 at that sale, however we have doubled that on a warm sunny day that is perfect for planting. Our time is 10-2, and we could feasably do it 9-1 - we don't get many folks after one, generally. They are all too busy planting!!

RE: the colour coding - that's a good idea!!! Use your blinds, but get different colours of 'sharpies'.

Nancy.

Budge1- I like the idea of a pizza garden for your next project. If you added marigolds to the tomatoes and basil/other herbs, you could also show companion planting and marigolds helping with the nematodes.

What did you do for the fairy gardens? I'm still working on one for my nieces and would love any ideas :)

wonbyherwits, do you think the sale would have been more successful if you were in a more public space where you wouldn't have to rely on bringing customers in yourself?

We will have real pots and soil and like I said, other than the cost of the seeds, all our materials are donated. I don't see a way around using something like the mini-blinds as markers, but maybe I could make labels on the computer or borrow a label maker.

Love the idea of colour coding prices. And luckily the book fair coincides with our planting time.

I found some beautiful small ceramic planters in bright colours (red, yellow, blue, green and white) at the dollar store. They just fit a 4" plastic pot. We're going to plant grape hyacinth bulbs and rye grass to go in them. Super easy, but looks fantastic. I'm counting on a table of those at the front to draw people in.

felisa, I've just discovered wintersowing in the last few days. Came across the term "WS'ing" and just had to google it. We will definately be trying it.

Lavenderlass, we had such a successful unit with the fairy gardens. It was really wonderful. I just have to get off to work now, but I'll post what we did later today.

So glad someone directed me to this forum.

What about the little colored sticky circles sold wherever office supplies are (even walmart has these)? They would work for color coding. Just stick appropriate color on your plant tag.
tammy

You can buy colored popsicle sticks at any craft, etc. store. We use those for plant sales (prices) and also when friends go on plant shopping trips. Each person gets a different color to 'mark her territory'!

I agree with all that mentioned it has to look good. Clay soil in a coffee can won't sell much. I think uniformity makes a nice impact. Those newspaper formed pots would be very 'green'. It would look nice if everyone used them.

You can't educate people enough, either! You could separate plants into shade, sun, etc. to help with culture care.

I think people like 'instant', also. Like the pizza garden. Come up with a clever way to group those and sell them together and I think it would be a hit. Pizza garden, taco garden, Jardin de provence......

I think I'm getting chatty. This has all been said.

Good Luck! :)

Mickie

Use *lots* of directional signs:

have the sale on a Saturday morning when people are out going to garage sales & running errands, & put same-colored signs (yellow is highly visible) along a major thoroughfare pointing the way.

Don't space them too far apart.
You want people to be assured that they're still on the right track.

Be sure your lettering is big enough & plain enough to read & don't put too many words on them, but people will go further to buy from a sale that benefits the kids, so try to say something like "Miss Beckley's 5th Grade Garden Class".

Best luck, & have fun!

lavenderlass, here is a not so brief summary of our fairy unit. If you have any ideas you could share, I'd love to hear.
1. Search for fairy shadows  fairies shadows are "fixed" when they are caught in a lightening storm. We put sparkle glue in the shape of a fairy on various surfaces of the greenhouse. The girls had to find them (got them familiar with the greenhouse).
2. Planted mimosa pudica (sensitive plant  leaves curl up when touched) and told a story about how fairies played a tag-like game with the plant. These seeds have a seed coat that is hard so we soaked some in hot water, scratched others and did nothing to others and kept track of which ones had better germination.
3. We started "fairy pillows" (hydrangeas) from cuttings.
4. We made fairy gardens. First they made a plan on paper of what they wanted in their garden. We talked about how texture, colour, fragrance, shape (had talked earlier about fairy circles), height, places for them to hide, etc. I used those round terracotta coloured plastic plant pot bottoms that were about 10" across and 2" deep. One class they made things out of clay to put in the gardens (benches, rocks, bridges, etc.) Make sure you clear coat these in something water proof. We didnÂt and they started to melt when we watered the gardens. They assembled their gardens by adding about an inch of soil in bottom. I had collected moss from a local forest and they put that down next. Then they added all their other elements. We did this in late fall so I had collected tons of things from around my garden. We had some nice dried red berries that looked like mountain ash, but came from a vine in my neighbours garden, dried beebalm (smelled amazing), hydrangeas that they took apart, pine cones, red dog wood branches, etc. They added the sensitive plants they had grown, but left them in the two inch pots  just sort of nestled them in.

My experience with growing plants in fiber pots or newspapers have not been so good. It all becames moldy and I've tried it many times over several years and so now I've given up using these materials to grow my seedlings. (yes I've used no-damp, aerated the area to no avail) Sure it's organic but it will look icky. I also had the same experience with using popcicle sticks for markers. The things grew hairy, black mold in no time at all. Instead if you insist on using these sticks, I would suggest adding the markers just shortly before the sale.

Colourful, uniformed groupings, clear typed instructions on what to do with the plants, theme gardening. presentation is key. Anything that looks green is attractive.

Herbs are always a winner - most especially mediterranean herbs.

If the children go into this for fun and learning (not about the money) they will feel very successful!

Our small crowd was spending money on their greyhounds - buying collars, art, and such - instead of plants!

Cameron

Hi everyone, I just wanted to chime in on the plant sale thing. I have had one at my home for 3 years in a row now. It has been very profitable for me. I sell mostly perennials, inwhich I start digging to divide as soon as weather permits. Usually in the first part of April. I pot then up in regulat nursery pots. I save all of mine and several friends bring them to me. I make up a chart with pictures cut from seed catalogs. I also have several different colored stickers,which I put on the chart,every sticker means a certiam $$ amount, each pot has a sticker on it so everyone knows how much each plant costs. I also use blinds to identify each plant... It is alot of work, but it is fun meeting people.. Every year it got busier and people would return the empty pots. I enjoyed showing people my gardens. I made lots of "Perennial Pals". I had so many people that came each year. I always have it Memorial day weekend, by then my plants are looking real healthy!! I told everyone that last year was my last sale, they all said I will see you next year!!! So we will see!!! Good luck with your sale!!!

Budge1- Great ideas for the fairy gardens! Most of my nieces are too young to make their own fairy gardens (I have two that just turned four) but, they do love to dress up as fairies. The "fairy" garden is a combination shade garden and sunny butterfly garden with gallica roses that change color, some miniature roses and violets, a bird bath, and an arch they walk under to enter the garden. This year I'm adding a little "sand castle" made of cement, some animal statues and a little bridge with the castle that should be in a fish tank. The girls love it and it gives them a reason to be in the garden. As they get older, we might try a fairy garden for them to take home, but right now, they like being the fairies in the garden :)

lavenderlass, that sounds absolutely magical - what lucky girls to have such a great aunty. Growing up, I remember so many of my relatives were gardeners, but kids were banned from the gardens completely for fear we would tromp on something or pull up a flower instead of a weed. So lucky for kids to have adults invite them into the garden.

Mulchy, what a great way to deal with all those perennials that need dividing anyways. I'm always putting irises and the like in the backlane hoping someone takes them and gives them a new home (and they usually do disappear pretty quick).

The hort. class at our local high school has a plant sale every year and they do annuals and veggies. They also grow all the plants for the town's public areas.

We like to go to a plant sale a local church holds end of May every year altho we were away last year so missed it. Most of the plants are perennial and very hardy (sometimes a bit invasive but I avoid those) as people donate what self-seeds and grows well in their gardens.

I'd like to buy herbs, unique hardy perennials, and grasses at a fund-raiser sale but neither of the sales here have many so I have to find them elsewhere.

Good luck with your sale!

Based on the small-scale plant sales around here, I'd put heirloom tomatoes and herbs at the top of the list (herbs that seem to sell easily are parsley, basil, chives, spearmint, CATNIP,... I'll think of more.). I've been told that flowering plants will sell great if they're in bloom, but that would be tough for you in May, zone 3, and growing from seed.

Consider who your browsers/buyers might be. If they're young adults or YUPPIE types, I'd think that spicy/hot pepper plants would sell well. If they're young families, I'd bet that pumpkin plants would sell. Any of the cucurbits would probably be good: cucumbers, squashes, gourds.... People like being able to buy "just one" of plants like that because they take room to grow (I'd grow 3 plants per pot for selling, then they can just 'hill' the whole thing in).

I re-read your post and see that it will be the parents of the kids. In that case, ask the kids! lol! Seriously, ask them what they or their parents would like to grow.

Hmm, more good ideas. Yes, I definitely ask the kids. They are in charge of everything. The plan is to give them each a seed catalogue (we are lucky to have the bricks and mortar store of one of Canada's major seed companies right here in town) and have them each decide on their top 5 picks.

Really like the idea of the cucurbits (hadn't heard that term before). We have some pumpkin seeds we saved from the club's Halloween class.

Thanks to a wonderful donation, we now have enough tomato seeds to make pizza from now until doomsday.

Because of the greenhouse, we could plant early enough to get blooms going, but we have 2 weeks off school in the middle of March and no one is allowed in the school but cleaning staff. The poor seedlings would just not survive.

Just have to share our last activity. The theme for the 3rd graders was container gardening and they used seed catalogues to find plants they would want to grow in containers. We talked about words to look for in plant descriptions like trailing, drought tolerant, etc. and they made some great lists. Then I gave them a sillouette of a black urn glued on a large background paper. They drew the outline of the plants in rough and then used tissue paper to make their plants cascading out the urns. I can't describe how beautifully these turned out. The parents were astounded when they came to pick up the kids. And were even more amazed when they could point to the different plants on the picture and name them. We picked the top 5 plants that they had included in their pictures on our "to grow list".

Ianna - I agree with you about the newspaper and peat pots. Two years ago, I discovered coir pots. They are great - they don't wick the moisture out, keep their shape, and look great. I saw them a Zellers, and also one Walmart. I haven't compared them price wise, but they didn't seem pricey, and were worth it anyway! And budge, they do make a green alternative!!

Nancy.