‘Last Call’ Tropical Plant Distribution

Friday November 11th the CCGA held a new kind of distribution, making tropical plants available to any interested community gardener for a small fee, just $5 per person. It was our one and only “Last Call” signaled not by flashing lights at Symphony Hall, or your favorite bartender calling it out, but by a surprise end-of-season donation of beautiful tropical plants that could be wintered over as house plants. As the photos show, these included rows of Boston ferns, big pots of tall croton (a striking plant with eye-catching, colorful foliage), spider plants, sumptuous fuchsia ‘Gartenmeister’, and Ti plants and hibiscus. The woody plants and shrubs, cordyline and dracaena rounded out the distribution with a small selection of perennials and hardy ground cover that could still be planted outside.

A big thank you goes out to LaVerne, Mamie and Philip of the Resources Committee who shouldered the work of preparation and ran a smooth distribution, braving chilly weather and a threatening cold drizzle. CCGA gives a big thank you to the twenty community gardeners who showed up and took cart loads of these tropical plants and perennials; every last plant found a refuge. And a big thank you to The Contained Garden, which salvaged magnificent tropical plants from its summer containers for clients. Another thank you to Pat and Robert Hart, who helped pot up and deliver all the tropicals to CGT in their well-used pickup truck. A final thank you to Chicago Plant Rescue for perennials and asparagus fern, which went from clump to pot thanks to the work of Philip E.