Gerrie Pavan has lived in the same home and same South Port neighbourhood for 50 years. While her neighbours have come and gone, one thing has never changed: Pavan’s garden has been the talk of the block.
Lining the inside of her low fence is a garden full of perennials and tulips.
“When the tulips are finished I’ll replace them with annuals,” she said.
Pops of colour peek out from lush green grass and shrubs like small springtime treasures.
Pavan is a member of the Mt.Klitsa Garden Club, and like many of her 60 or so fellow members has been busy preparing starter plants for the club’s community plant sale.
The sale paused in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, and looked much smaller—in a different venue—in 2021. With the easing of restrictions continuing in B.C., the garden club is returning to the Rollin Art Centre on Saturday, May 7 for their annual plant sale.
Pavan said club members have been setting aside plants for two years—last year she had upwards of 200 just from her own garden—so gardeners will find plenty of variety.
The annual plant sale has been a fixture in the Alberni Valley since 2000, although the Mt. Klitsa garden club has been around since 1955. Mrs. Thomson of the McCoy Lake Thomsons started the club with 11 other members. Now the club has between 60-80 people in any given year.
The club meets the first Thursday of the month, breaking for the hottest months of summer.
They are always looking for gardens to tour as part of their meetings. Anyone willing to open their garden to the club can call Larry Breckin, 250-724-1036.
The community plant sale will include annuals and perennials, vegetables, herbs, house plants, tubers, bulbs and more. The sale opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 12 p.m. at the Rollin Art Centre gardens, at the corner of Argyle Street and Eighth Avenue in Port Alberni. No earlybirds.