Cross-pollinizing Pleasanton Cross-pollinizing Pleasanton (April 05, 2002)

by Jeb Bing

F or those who like colorful spring flowers around the home but, like me, lack the time or green thumb skills to grow them, tomorrow's the day to stock up at bargain prices while also meeting the local experts.

Starting at 9 a.m., the Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club - one of the Bay Area's largest - will hold its annual plant sale in the parking lot at Amador Valley High School. Weather permitting, the show is always spectacular and this one could be the biggest ever, with as many as 2,000 perennials, roses, shrubs, trees and house plants. Prices will range from $2 a gallon up to $10-$15 for gorgeous climbing roses. It rained last year, but even so the club made $2,300 in sales that was used for special presentations about gardening to children and at public meetings.

Sandra Bierra, who manages the annual show, won't know even this morning just how many plants or what varieties will be available tomorrow. That's because club members start delivering their contributions from cuttings and grafts and overstock in their own yards to garden club assembly points later today. Bierra, who will bring ivy, herbs and perennials from her Riesling Street home, will then join others in inspecting, categorizing and pricing the plants. These will then be trucked over to the Amador parking lot at sunrise tomorrow. Shoppers are expected to line up early for the sale to start, with the best selections probably gone by mid-day.

Bierra, an adult reference librarian at the Pleasanton Public Library, joined the 25-year-old garden club after shopping at its annual sale, herself. Although the plants are not the trademarked name varieties offered by local nurseries, they represent the tender, loving care of their owners, who are often at the sale. They provide the plant's history and origins, which adds a personal touch to the sale, and also tips for transplanting and care that have worked well for them. Over the years, so many plants have been dug up and sold by the garden club event that Dolores Bengtson, club president, believes that the effort has cross-pollinized most of Pleasanton.

The club started selling plants from its members' gardens on Main Street in 1984. As the volume of plants and buyers grew, it was moved to Amador, where each year the variety also continues to grow. Since many of the flowering plants may not yet be in bloom, Bierra this year is adding laminated photos to show what they should look like. Some of the offerings this year will also include bulbs and plants culled from the gardens that the club maintains at Century Park next to the Pleasanton Senior Center, Century House on Santa Rita and the adobe on Foothill Road. If the grower is not at the sale, Bierra probably can't say for sure whose yards plants have come from, although next year she may add specially priced "celebrity plants" from the rich and famous in Pleasanton.

For more information about the Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club or tomorrow's sale, contact Dolores Bengtson at 846-4865 or Sandra Bierra at 485-9513.