PHS botanists host annual plant sale

Although it was unseasonably crisp outside on Thursday afternoon, inside the greenhouse at Philomath High School it was downright tropical.

There, members of the high school's botany program were busy helping a crowd of eager customers during the first hour of the school's annual three-day botany plant sale.

Outside, junior Leslie Alvarado was handing out a price list to customers as they arrived to load up on vegetables, flowers and succulents, almost all grown from seed by botany students under the direction of teacher Jeff Mitchell.

"(The class) is really fun," said Alvarado, who has taken botany for two years. "You learn a lot about plants and flowers."

Alvarado especially enjoys the class bike rides, when students ride around the area, learning about plants in their native environment. She has a garden at home and helps tend the planting beds outside the PHS greenhouse as well.

"I'm a flower person," she said. "I like the colors and everything."

In fact, Alvarado's keen eye came in handy when she helped lead a team of students filling flower boxes for the plant sale.

"We had to color coordinate them," she said, wearing a green and white outfit with green accessories that just happened to complement the flower boxes around her.

Inside the greenhouse, Cheryl Leckie was holding up a flower seedling she'd never seen before, drawn by the magenta veins in the otherwise emerald-green leaves. She wasn't quite sure what it was.

"We're going to find out," she said. "We do a surprise (plant) every year."

Last year, they picked up some cosmos that were supposed to grow low to the ground. They ended up being three feet tall, but those kinds of garden surprises are what keep things interesting.

Leckie's daughter, Brianna, 14, said last summer her dad made a special gardening plot just for her.

"I was really working at it," she said. "That became one of my hobbies. I was out there almost every day."

With prices ranging from $1 for three-inch pots to $18 for hanging baskets, a lot of enthusiastic gardeners were loading up on plants at the sale, which continues today and Saturday. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The greenhouse is located to the west of Philomath High School, 2054 Applegate St. All proceeds will go toward next year's botany program.