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Rotary Gardens to hold annual plant sale Saturday

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Rotary Gardens staffer Janice Peterson (l) and volunteer Shirley Hoage sorted and tagged ornamental pepper plants on Friday. The duo were preparing for the annual plant sale at the gardens which takes place on Saturday.

JANESVILLE — Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

That’s the easiest way to describe Rotary Botanical Gardens’ plant sale.

The sale, which runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, is a fund-raiser for the gardens and the Rock Prairie Master Gardener program.

The sale will feature:

- Something old: More than 51 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and more than 200 varieties of peppers, ranging from mild to excruciatingly hot.

Heirloom plants are older varieties that fell out of favor when commercial gardening became big business. They’re not as disease resistant, and picked fruits only last a few days, Dwyer explained.

But nothing can beat their taste.

“Heirloom tomato varieties have wonderful flavors that are impossible to replicate with store-purchased tomatoes,” Dwyer said.

Vegetables are $1 each, or you can create a mixed four-pack.

- Something new: Try a new variety of your favorite plant. The sale will include 40 varieties of perennials or about 5,000 plants. Perennials range from $3 to $7.

- Something borrowed: Rock Prairie Master Gardeners and other volunteers spent hundreds of hours digging, dividing and repotting plants from the gardens. The plants are “borrowed” from the gardens. And here’s the best part: You don’t have to give them back.

- Something blue: Or close to blue—blue-green foliage or blue flowers. Or forget blue entirely and get some red hot peppers.

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IF YOU GO

What: Rotary Botanical Gardens plant sale.

When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

Where: Horticultural Center, just north of the garden’s main entrance, 1455 Palmer Drive, Janesville. Look for the signs.