Source: Scott McElwain, 785-532-3271, mcelwain@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Tim Lindemuth, 785-532-5061, tlindemuch@k-state.com
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011
Flower power: Plant sale offers more than 60 varieties of university-grown holiday poinsettias
MANHATTAN -- Just in time for the holidays, poinsettia plants in peach, white, pink and speckled varieties will be offered to the public as a fundraiser for the Kansas State University Gardens between Nov. 18 and Dec. 7. Traditional red varieties also will be included.
The flowering plants will be on sale from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, early flowering varieties only; 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, during the Poinsettia Open House. The location is the gardens' Quinlan Visitors Center, 1500 Denison Ave., Manhattan.
According to Scott McElwain, director of the gardens, horticulture students in the university's Greenhouse Operations Management class grew the poinsettias as a hands-on lab project. Domestic and international poinsettia breeding companies provided the cultivar trial plants, which the students have grown in the teaching space of the Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center greenhouses on campus.
Funds from the sale will support the university gardens, student workers and other operations, McElwain said.
Volunteers with the Friends of the Kansas State University Gardens organization will staff the three sale dates. Prices for the poinsettias are $10 for a 6.5-inch pot and $50 for six plants; and $15 for a 10-inch pot centerpiece.
