As summer rolls around, people are looking to clean up their landscape and decorate their porches and decks. There is no better way to do that than to support the Lewis Cass FFA in their plant sale. The plant sale is this week (May 6-11). Heidi Williams, an FFA member, was asked the dates and times, and she said, “We are selling plants this week Monday-Friday 3-4 pm and then Saturday 12-2 pm.” Mr. Plank was asked how long they had been preparing for the sale and he said, “We have been growing plants for this sale since January.” Here are the details of this sale.

Now you may ask, what plants are the FFA selling? Mr. Plank was asked and he said, “We have vegetable/garden plants as well as flowers.” Heidi was asked what her favorite plants were and she said, “Some of my favorite plants we are selling are petunias, sunflowers, and painted daisies.” Heidi was asked what the prices would look like, “ For one flat that has 15 little squares in it is $10, for a 3-pack of flowers, is $1.50, individual squares are $1, Hanging baskets are $10 (but we only have Petunia hanging baskets).” If you compare these prices to other plant sales these prices are pretty cheap. Mr. Plank elaborated more on this, “We try to have lower prices than what a commercial greenhouse or a store like Walmart might have. We offer a 3-pack of plants for $1.50 or a flat which holds 12 3-packs for $10. We also have larger tomato, coleus, spider, wandering jew, and pepper plants at $1 a piece. 12 of the larger $1 containers fit in a flat and those flats are still $10. The customer may also mix and match flowers and vegetables in the same flat. The whole idea is to provide fair pricing while also covering our cost of production and providing students learning opportunities.”

Now you may be wondering if this sale is going to be different or improved from the last sale. Mr. Plank said, “Well, I did not attend last year’s sale, but I would guess we have a larger variety than in years past. We also have a display board that shows what the mature plants look like and we have the plants numbered and organized so that a customer can look at the display board and then easily be able to tell where that plant is located in the greenhouse. I think one big change is that the goals of the sale have changed. The goal is to serve the community while also providing learning opportunities for students.”

The FFA is a large organization that strives to serve its community and make it proud with its constant participation in contests and community work. Mr. Plank was asked what the money made will be used for and he said, “The money made goes to pay for soil and materials but any profit after that goes into the general FFA Fund.”