Have you been looking for an extra-hard-to-find plant at your local Bunnings to no avail? Or, are you a plant enthusiast who loves to find exotic, uncommon plants to add to your collection? I visited the annual Growing Friends Plant Sale over the weekend and, to my delight, came home with my arms full of plants to add to my garden.
Every year, Growing Friends at the Sydney Botanic Gardens opens its gates to sell rare, native, and popular plants. These plants are mostly sourced from the Gardens’ Living Collection, meaning that they are grown and propagated from the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan and Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens.
Growing Friends is a volunteer-run group that dedicates their time to learning how to care for and propagate different plants. The volunteers help with the Plant Sale each year through propagation and helping to run the sale. Liz Jeavons-Fellows, Team Leader at Growing Friends, explains that part of the purpose of the plant sale is to help fund horticultural and conservation projects within the Botanic Gardens, to help preserve and progress plant collections.
This spring sale is running for only two weeks, from 20 September to 3 October. All I can say is, get in quick so you don’t miss out on picking up a pot.
What plants can you buy at the Growing Friends Plant Sale?
From ferns to salvia to paper daisies, there’s something for every kind of plant lover to invest in. With native species and special sale plants up the front and global species further down, it’s a stroll that guarantees a purchase at the end.
A highlight of the sale includes plants that were directly propagated from the Alchemy of Rainforest exhibition, which was recently shown at the Calyx. These plants include Heuchera, Philodendron, Spathiphyllum and as many ferns as you can think of!
Everyone’s favourite native, the paper daisy, sits at the very front of the gates, waiting for customers to pick them up! Other natives include the rare Queensland Tree Waratah (Alloxylon flammeum), wax flower, bulbine lily, mint bush and many more.
Personally, I loved the native plants on offer, and went home with my favourite native species, including brown boronia (Boronia megastigma), Hawkesbury daisy (Brachyscome multifida) and plumed featherflower (Verticordia plumosa).
For those who love new varieties of their backyard favourites, there are Begonias, Rhipsalis, Salvias and succulents galore to choose from. And, if you’re orchid-obsessed, you’ll have heard about the highly sought-after Worsleya, which is for sale at Growing Friends, but has limited numbers.
Liz says that the main drawcards for this sale will be the wide variety of salvias, the paper and everlasting daisies and the mandevilla vines.
Raising money for horticultural projects
Growing Friends dedicates a part of every purchase towards vital science and conservation projects within the Botanic Gardens.
This year, the Growing Friends Plant Sale is donating its proceeds towards helping fund new experiences at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Liz explained that there are plans to build and open a Camellia boardwalk to allow the public to easily access the beloved Camellia Garden.
Previously, proceedings have gone to a demister for the Orchid House and to purchase Peter Hay’s (President of the Clivia Society of NSW) collection of rare clivias. Spoiler! Next year’s sale may have some of these cuttings available; we’ll be watching closely.
Make sure to check out their Fundraising Fern-mometer, located at the front of the sale, to see how much money has been raised from the Plant Sale.
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