Just as seedlings are starting to come to life and push up out of the soil, the Chestermere Public Library is reviving a popular spring fundraiser.
The Container Gardening Fundraiser see’s participants get a combination of a private shopping evening and the opportunity to design and plant a spring pot or planter.
“It’s not unlike a paint night…where it’s a nice fun community activity to do,” said Chestermere Public Library Assistant Director Cathy Burness.
Burness is planning to go herself to take advantage of the advice available from the experts and enjoy the community of gardeners.
“It’s nice to get excited over doing something creative like that,” she said.
Held at Garden Scents Garden Center on June 7, tickets for the fundraiser cost $15 and were limited to 25 people to keep the intimate feel of the event.
Burness said they also capped the numbers so that everyone would have a chance to ask their gardening questions of the garden center’s experts Wade and Candace Lester.
“I think we have a lot of really keen local gardeners with a variety of knowledge bases,” said Burness.
“Some people know lots about gardening and others don’t and they want to be able to ask someone who really knows the answers to their questions,” she said.
Burness said she thinks that’s one of the reasons the fundraiser was so successful when they first ran it two years ago.
“We did it and it was wildly successful and so we decided to do it again,” she said.
For the cost of $15, all of which goes to the library, participants get entry to the garden centre after hours, a 20 per cent discount on purchases, the chance to get all of their gardening questions answered, and the opportunity to plant their own flower pot to take home.
“It’s not like they’re all coming up with exactly the same container full of the same flowers so there’s a creativity to it,” she said.
Burness said that people can choose to either buy their pots that night or bring their own in.
“So really the only cost to you is the cost for the ticket plus whatever you’re going to put in the way of flowers,” she said.
The variety and creativity of getting inspired by what everyone is doing and planting a custom designed planter is what makes the event so popular.
“They all look beautiful, they all look very different,” said Burness, “It’s quite creative and people go home with something really beautiful.”
With no specific project in mind for the fundraiser, Burness said that while it’s one of their smaller fundraisers, it really does make a difference to the library.
Without a designated project, the funds raised can be used on whatever smaller projects the director or staff feel the library needs.
Burness, who is looking forward to the fundraiser, hopes that it inspires the participants and other local gardeners in the community.
“It’s tons of fun,” she said, “it’s a garden centre, it’s kind of like Disneyland for grown-ups.”
