Battle Ground Public Schools to host annual plant and greenhouse sale

Posted

High school students in Battle Ground are gearing up for their annual plant and greenhouse sales.

The events will feature the return of the popular hanging flower baskets. Holding their respective sales will be Battle Ground High School, Prairie High School, and CASEE, otherwise known as the Center for Agriculture, Science and Environmental Education

Sherry Moore-Smith, the agriculture lab assistant of Battle Ground High School’s agriculture department, said the items for sale are all grown by the students. The school’s agriculture program features two full-scale greenhouses, Moore-Smith said. 

“Most of what we’re known for are our hanging baskets, and we grow over 1,000 of them, so it’s a big program,” she said. 

She said the hanging baskets are designed in the fall by kids in the advanced horticulture class. 

“It’s what the public likes,” she said of the hanging baskets. “Our kids do a great job with them, and it’s a pretty exciting time.”

The students order plants that are grown in the school’s nursery which arrive in January. As part of the process, the students add fertilizer to the soil before they plant them. 

“They’re then nurtured, maintained, and pruned until our plant sale,” Moore-Smith said.

Moore-Smith said the sale won’t be as large as past iterations of the event because people are still emerging from the pandemic. 

“Normally we have hanging baskets, vegetables, annual bedding plants, perennials, and a lot more than we’re growing this year,” she said. “This year, we’re just advertising hanging baskets, but we are growing perennials that are for sale, pansies, and primroses.”

She added the community comes out “in droves” to support the annual sale.  

This month’s event marks a return to a more normal format, Moore-Smith said, since kids were not physically in school last year. At that time, they grew their projects at home instead of on campus. 



“The year before was really crazy because the kids were involved and we were set to have this huge record-breaking plant sale, and then COVID started, and we had no kids and all these plants,” she said. “We’re transitioning into a big full-fledged sale like we’ve always had.”

Besides the hanging baskets, Moore-Smith said zonal geraniums are also popular. The money generated from the sales goes toward the raw materials needed for next year’s sale, which includes soil and seeds. It will also fund student memberships with the National FFA Association, as well as trips to FFA conventions. 

Beyond the horticulture class, there’s also a hydroponics class and tissue culture lab in the agriculture program which the funds support as well, she said.

Compared to other schools, Moore-Smith said the plants BGHS’s agriculture department grows are typically tailored to homeowners. 

“Our plants are normally grown more for the homeowners and the beautification of their property, such as annual plants and hanging baskets,” she said. “From what I know, CASEE tends to grow native plants, which would include drought-resistant plants and trees.”

The BGHS plant sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 23 at 300 W. Main St. in Battle Ground. Cash, checks, and credit/debit cards will be accepted. 

Prairie High School’s sale will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. on May 4, from 3 to 5 p.m. on May 5, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. on May 6, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 7. The school is located at 11311 NE 119th St., Vancouver. Checks and credit/debit cards will be accepted. 

CASEE’s sale will run from noon to 3 p.m. by appointment only on April 30, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 1. It’s located at 11104 NE 149th St. in Brush Prairie. Checks and credit/debit cards will be accepted.