Morton Arboretum's plant sale draws big crowd Saturday

Despite the cold, rainy weather, the plant sale on the second day of the Morton Arboretum's Arbor Day celebration drew big crowds.

Plants, trees, shrubs and a variety of perennials, annual plants and edibles were for sale, offering buyers a wide spectrum to choose from in adding plants to their landscape.

New this year, arboretum member and nonmember purchasers signed up for time slots to come and pick up their plants, helping alleviate what has been an initial stampede of buyers, said Gerry Donnelly, president and CEO of the Morton Arboretum.

"We've often been overwhelmed at the start, with people wanting to get their hands on the best of the selection," Donnelly said. "We actually allotted more of those timed slots than we had all of the total transactions last year, and those slots were all sold out. That was really a great indicator that people were keen to be here and get plants that really carry the arboretum's recommendation for plants best suited for our area."

Pete Linsner, manager of plant production, said the arboretum also added lines to make the checkout process easier.

"I don't know how many plants we have sold this year, but our average over the past couple years has been near 30,000 plants," he said.

More affected by the weather were the kids activities. They had a chance to plant tree seeds, hunt for five unique trees in the museum's Children's Garden, and learn about "tree cookies," which are cross sections of tree branches that help kids learn about the history of a particular tree.

The plant sale continues through Sunday, staffed by "plant geniuses," a team of arboretum tree and plant experts available to answer questions, suggest plants and help shoppers narrow their choices.

For details on the arboretum and all its programs, visit mortonarb.org.