More than 100 types of plants will be available for purchase at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) Heritage Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20. Admission to the plant sale is free.
Organized by the MSV, the Heritage Plant Sale features more than 3,500 plants, all selected by the Museum’s horticultural experts for their ability to thrive in Shenandoah Valley gardens. The sale will include perennials, shrubs, trees, vines, annuals, and vegetables.
According to MSV Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes, the plants offered at the Heritage Plant Sale are ready for immediate planting. He notes that many of the plants available have stood the test of time in gardens—including peonies, columbine, iris, and black-eyed Susan—while other plants being sold are unusual, such as Maltese cross, a colorful perennial with brilliant orange flowers and purplish-green leaves; leopard plant, a deer-resistant, late-summer blooming perennial with golden, daisy-like flowers; and the serviceberry tree, a small, multi-trunked understory tree that produces showy white flowers in the spring and bright color in the fall.
Mathewes notes that, based on popular demand, the majority of plants offered at the sale will be perennials. Available in one-gallon pots, nearly all of the perennials are priced at $12 each. He adds that shrubs—in three-gallon containers—will sell for $25 or $30, and trees will range in price from $95 for a classic white dogwood to $150 for an 11-foot-tall heritage oak.
Throughout the plant sale, MSV horticultural staff will be available to answer questions about the planting, care, and maintenance of the plants available for purchase.
Many of the plants available for purchase may be found in the MSV’s seven-acre Glen Burnie Gardens, including hibiscus (Perennial Garden), strawberries (Vegetable Garden), coral honeysuckle (Pink Pavilion garden), cardinal flower and Virginia sweetspire (Kathie’s Spring Garden), creeping phlox (Rose Garden), English lavender (MSV parking lot), and Siberian bugloss and Virginia bluebell (Water Garden). Proceeds from the Heritage Plant Sale will support the care and maintenance of the MSV gardens. A detailed listing of plants available for purchase is available at www.theMSV.org/plants23.
First access to the Heritage Plant sale is being offered to MSV members from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 18. Along with having the first opportunity to browse and purchase plants, MSV members will receive a 10% discount on Heritage Plant Sale purchases. Those interested in attending the preview and receiving the members’ discount may join the MSV on site or online at www.theMSV.org/join. Plants will be available on first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.
Heritage Plant Sale attendees interested in touring the MSV gardens and exhibitions may store their purchased plants in a plant holding area. While admission to the plant sale is free to all, admission fees apply for entrance to the formal gardens and exhibitions in the galleries building.
A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV includes a galleries building that presents permanent and rotating exhibitions, the Glen Burnie House, seven acres of formal gardens, and The Trails at the MSV, a free-admission art park open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk. The galleries are open year-round Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. January through March). The house and gardens are open April through December. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General admission is free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV members (a $5 admission fee will apply for ages 5 to 12 during the display of the special outdoor exhibition Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects® Made with LEGO® Bricks May 27 through September 4, 2023). Additional details are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–