The Good Earth Garden Club offered a wide array of plants at the club’s 2016 sale on Old Marion Road NE, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

It’s the time of year Iowa gardeners eagerly anticipate.

Spring plant sales provide a taste of what’s to come and a promise of the potential offered in the coming growing season.

Following are upcoming plant sales in Eastern Iowa. Leave a message if your group has a plant sale to add to the list.

Edible Plant Sale Fundraiser hosted by Backyard Abundance

Saturday, April 29
9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Robert A. Lee Community Recreation Center, 220 South Gilbert St., Iowa City

Knowledgeable gardeners will be available to help people choose from a wide variety of locally-grown vegetables, herbs, flowers and berry shrubs. Local vendors will sell worms for vermicompost bins, willow basketry and herbal remedies. Proceeds fund educational yard tours and environmental classes in Johnson County. The event is in cooperation with Iowa City Parks and Recreation. All plants were carefully selected to maximize yield, resist diseases and thrive in Iowa’s climate. Visitors can buy tomatoes, peppers, kale, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus and many other vegetables and herbs. Berry bushes will also be for sale: blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, honeyberry and gooseberry. Monarch-friendly flowers will include butterfly weed, common milkweed, purple coneflower, prairie blazingstar and others. For more information, visit www.BackyardAbundance.org

Cedar Valley Iris and Daylily Society

Saturday, May 6
9-11:30 a.m.
Environmental Learning Center, 3300 Cedar St., Muscatine

Spring plant sale at the Gazebo at the Environmental Learning Center, 3300 Cedar St., Muscatine, on  Saturday, May 6, from 9-11:30 a.m. This is a great chance to pick up some very nice registered hybrid daylilies and iris as well as some perennial plants. More information available at cvids.org.

Indian Creek Nature Center, Spring Plant Sale

Saturday, May 6
9 a.m. to noon
Indian Creek Nature Center, 5300 Otis Rd. SE, Cedar Rapids

The Nature Center Guild is ready to fill your yard and garden with a variety of beautiful wildflowers, hostas, geraniums, perennials and prairie plants at their annual Spring Plant Sale. Join us on May 6, 2017, for the first Spring Plant Sale at the new Amazing Space building and campus!  Select beautiful hanging baskets and planters or choose individual plants to create your own masterpiece. You’ll also find a great selection of fruits and vegetables ready to transplant into your garden. Gardening experts are on hand to answer your questions and make suggestions about what plants will work best for your individual situation. And if you’re looking for garden art and accessories, vendors are ready to provide unique and attractive pieces to help you create a charming garden showcase in your yard. The Spring Plant Sale is one of three annual fundraising events benefiting Indian Creek Nature Center put on by the Friends of the Nature Center group, along with the Soup’s On soup supper in October, and the Nature’s Noel holiday market in December.

Project GREEN Garden Fair

Saturday, May 6; 9:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City

Our 47th Garden Fair will offer a plethora of plants, along with our special gifts table. This year, gift items will include wood birdhouses and herb gardens for your garden patios. Project GREEN will be adding some outside vendors for the first time, who will be offering wood trellises and patio furniture as well as cement garden designs and ceramic art. Come ready to buy! Plant “booths” are marked by colorful hanging banners. At the north end of Carver-Hawkeye Arena will be the Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Next will be Sunny Perennials and then the Special Gifts table. Working your way to the south end of the Arena, you will find Hostas, Shade Companion Plants, Groundcovers and the special vendor tables. Cashier tables and check-out will be at both the north and south ends of the sale. We will also have two areas, one at the south end near the Groundcovers and one near the front doors, where you can sit and visit with friends or just relax with some food and drink after you have finished shopping. Once again, THE JAVA HOUSE will be supplying our Garden Fair Café with their special rolls, cookies, coffee and juices. All Garden Fair plants have been grown in our experienced gardeners’ own gardens. They are choice, hardy plants that will survive Iowa’s weather. Choose from thousands of plants set out on tables that extend halfway around Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

QC Food Forest Plant sale

Saturday, May 6 and Saturday, May 13
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Quad Cities Food Hub, 421 W River Dr., Davenport

Need plants for your garden this year? Skip the big box stores and head down to the Quad Cities Food Hub instead! The QC Food Forest will host a plant sale from 9-4 on Saturday, May 6th and Saturday, May 13th. All proceeds from the sales will go to the QC Food Forest to help with a variety of projects we are working on this upcoming growing season. In addition to a wide array of vegetable plants, these perennial plants will be for sale that were locally propagated:

60 Hinnomaki Red Gooseberry – Large and productive red gooseberry cultivated variety. Shade tolerant plants have a spread of 3′-5′.
50 Red George Gooseberry – Large and productive red gooseberry cultivated variety. Shade tolerant plants have a spread of 3′-5′.
40 Nova Elderberry – Self pollinating elderberry. Elderberries are a showy plant that go great in the landscape.
35 Black Lace Elderberry – Best if planted with another elderberry for pollination. Elderberries are a showy plant that go great in the landscape.
45 Blackberry – Unknown variety, plants are upright and suited for Quad Cities climate.
30 Carmine Jewel Bush Cherry – Self pollinating bush cherry developed by the University of Saskatchewan that will grow 6.5-12′ tall and 7’+ wide.
20 Korean Bush Cherry – Self pollinating bush cherry that grows 7-9′ in height.
20 Nanking Cherry #1 – Plant with Nanking Cherry #2 for pollination.
20 Nanking Cherry #2 – Plant with Nanking Cherry #1 for pollination.
10 Sweet Scarlet Goumi – Plant with Red Gem Goumi for pollination.
10 Red Gem Goumi – Plant with Sweet Scarlet Goumi for pollination.
40 Concord Blue Grape
35 Mars Blue Seedless Grape
25 Niagara Green Grape
15 Edelweiss White Grape
15 Reliance Red Seedless Grape
10 Candice Red Seedless Grape
10 Swenson Red Grape
20 Issai Hardy Kiwi – Vining plant that sets fruits without a male, but sets more with one. Needs a trellis or fence to grow on.
5 Sage plants – Perennial sage plants

SEEDLINGS THAT WERE STARTED LAST YEAR:
106 Pawpaw
40 American Persimmon
10 English Walnut
23 Shellbark Hickory
17 Shagbark Hickory
30 American Persimmon

Johnson County Master Gardeners 10th Annual Plant Sale and Flea Market

Saturday, May 13
8 a.m. to noon
Johnson County Fair Grounds, Building B, 4261 Oak Crest Hill Rd. SE, Iowa City

Johnson County Master Gardeners will hold their 10th Annual Garden Sale and Flea Market. The sale will include perennials, annuals, vegetable plants, tools, and garden yard art. Proceeds from the annual sale support 4-H Awards, Kirkwood Community College Horticulture Scholarships and JCMG program support and operations.

The Good Earth Garden Club, 2017 Plant Sale

Saturday, May 13, Saturday, May 20, Sunday, May 21
8am to 4pm
740 Old Marion Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids

See a listing of many of the plants for sale.

Harshbarger Hosta Society Hosta Sale

Saturday, May 20
8am to noon
Noelridge Garden, Collins Road and Council Street NE, Cedar Rapids

Find numerous hosta shade plants for sale at the Noelridge Hosta Shade Garden from local gardens of members of the Harshbarger Hosta Society.

Linn County Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale

Saturday, May 20
8 am to noon
Linn County Extension, 383 Collins Road NE, Cedar Rapids

Pick plants for your garden from many kinds of perennials (both for sun and or shade) and many varieties of hosta and daylilies, also wildflowers, groundcovers, ornamental grasses, annuals and more. These plants come from our Master Gardeners’ gardens and greenhouse, where they were carefully dug and potted, and tenderly taken care of until the sale day. Best of all, they are priced for anyone who likes a bargain. Take Master Gardener plants home, grow them and enjoy them for years to come. In addition a variety of vegetables, including heirloom tomatoes, will be available. Master Gardeners will help you choose the plants right for you and will answer your gardening questions.

Friends of Hickory Hill Park Monarch Madness & Plant Sale

Sat. May 20 and Sun., May 21
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bloomington Street Entrance to Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City

The sale offers the usual array of prairie and other donated plants, including a number that encourage monarchs. Monarch Madness will feature live milkweed plants for sale to home gardeners. Donations go to park stewardship and conservation projects.

Scott County Master Gardeners plant sale & “Pollinators’ Palooza” 

Saturday, May 20, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 21, noon to 5 p.m.          Putnam Museum, 1717 West 12th St., Davenport

The Iowa State University Scott County Extension Master Gardeners will hold a hold plant sale during the  “Pollinators’ Palooza” event at the Putnam Museum in  Davenport. The public will be able to purchase plants raised by local Master Gardeners. Funds from the plant sale will support the ISU Master Gardener program for scholarships, children’s activities and education. The weekend-long palooza is designed to educate the public on the continuous importance of pollinators in our environment. Among the hourly activities, presentations include:

“Citizen Science Projects for Pollinators” presented by Amy Loving of Nahant Marsh. Nahant Marsh is a 265-acre preserve and is part of a 513-acre wetland complex that is bordered by the Mississippi River.

“Butterfly Salad Bar” presented by The Quad City Botanical Center. The Quad City Botanical Center is a public garden that brings people and plants together in fun and meaningful ways.

Master Gardeners will be giving presentations on a variety of topics including Magical Monarchs, Common Butterflies of the Quad Cities, Moths: The 2nd Shift Pollinators, and Planning a Butterfly Garden

“Backyard Beekeeping” will be presented by beekeeper Phil Crandall who will be bringing an enclosed beehive for all to see.