With the summer gardening season already well underway you probably have found everything you want to plant in your garden, or have around your home or office, but if you haven't just yet then a trip to the Spriet Family greenhouse here on campus might be just the place to pick-up that perfect plant for your home or office. Whether you are a green thumb and prefer to have your hands in the dirt, or you just want to liven up your place with some colour, the greenhouse on campus probably has just what you are looking for.

Riley Irwin, a horticulture technician student working in the greenhouse said there are lots of plants, particularly annuals, to choose from for that discriminating buyer.

“Its ranging anywhere from petunias, lobelia, we have some geraniums, flowering cannas and some really interesting things like castor beem plants and cardoons, so those are some of the interesting things,” said Irwin. “We have a few ornamental grasses that are also for sale but we have lots of hanging baskets, we have about five or six varieties of hanging baskets for sale.”

With Father's Day and many summertime celebrations right around the corner a plant from the greenhouse might be just the thing to add some colour to that special occasion, but if Mother's Day sales are any indication the plants will be going fast.

“Our first week we had phenomenal sales, Mother's day weekend was a pretty big hit we had a lot of hanging baskets sold, they were pretty popular,” said Irwin.

Prices in the greenhouse just like summertime weather are fair and reasonable ranging from $1.25 for a four-pack of annuals to $19.99 for hanging baskets. The sale is only on until the Father's Day weekend, when they close-up shop for the summer, but Irwin said that you are more than welcome to come and look in the greenhouse anytime throughout the rest of the summer. If you miss this sale, the next plant sale focusing on indoor house and tropical plants will be happening end of August into early September, with a focus on students in residence and staff looking to add something to their offices.

The greenhouse is open Monday to Saturday from 10am-5pm and Sunday from 12pm-5pm until the Father's Day weekend, and all proceeds from the plant sales go to support learning here at the college. Also during the summertime months the horticulture technician program has work-study students like Irwin tending to the many gardens on campus and helping continually beautify the campus in time for the return of the vast majority of students in September.