Press Release: 2010

Contact: Sharon Flournoy
512-472-3810

Sunshine Community Gardens Plant Sale

Sunshine Garden's primary fundraiser, the Spring Plant Sale and Garden Festival will be held on Saturday, March 6, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. at the Garden's location: 4814 Sunshine Drive. The sale is a family-friendly gathering and is greatly anticipated by experienced and beginner gardeners throughout Austin and the surrounding area. The Garden has been on the forefront of green practices and natural gardening in Austin since its beginning, 31 years ago.

The Gardens are located in central Austin, near the intersection of Lamar Blvd and 45th street. In 1979 the Gardens entered a cooperative arrangement with the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to provide a garden oasis in the middle of the city. It is Austin's largest and longest lived community garden. Garden members take pride in promoting healthy living through natural, chemical-free gardening.

Plant sale visitors will find hundreds of varieties of organic and heirloom vegetables, medicinal and culinary herbs, ornamental plants and flowers. Culinary plants include tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers (including hard-to-find varieties like Bishops Crown and Beaver Dam), eggplants, and tomatillos. Flowers and ornamentals include skullcap, butterfly weed, agaves, and many more. Visitors can purchase a bag of rich compost to get their garden started. Keep an eye out for sale updates on the Garden's website (http://www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org/).

There will be booths of food and drink, gardening products, a silent auction, and musical entertainment by the Polkadillos, and Laura Freeman and the Hey Hollies. Festival-goers can stroll through the area and get a glimpse of what a group of hardworking gardeners can accomplish. Though most of the members use their plots for vegetables and culinary herbs, there are also multitudes of ornamental flowers, vines, exotics and wildflowers. Each garden plot reveals its individual gardener—some are orderly, some wild, some are ornamental, some simple. No two gardens are exactly alike

In addition to the growing plots, Sunshine Garden houses a chicken coop, two large greenhouses, and several small mountains of mulch and compost. The Gardens appreciate the support of the Austin community and our members enjoy giving back. In 2009, the garden donated over 2000 pounds of fresh organic produce to the Micah 6 food bank, which serves the needy and homeless in the University of Texas area. Garden tours for students are scheduled throughout the year. Garden plots are reserved for at-risk youth and students and teachers at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. We love to show off our gardens! If you would like a tour, give us a call at 512-458-2009 and we will schedule it.

If you are not a gardener, but are interested in supporting this community enterprise, send a tax-deductible donation to “SCG” at PO Box 302349 Austin, TX 78703-0040. And be sure to join us for the Spring Plant Sale and Garden Festival on March 6.