Horticulture Program at SFA holds Plant Sale

By Christian Silva
Christiansilva952@yahoo.com

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – On November 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stephen F. Austin’s

horticulture club held its annual plant sale for the fall. A plant sale that was put in jeopardy
thanks to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that, as of today, have hit record highs for the ninth
straight day. Due to this, the horticulture program had to make sure that everything was in line
with Stephen F. Austin’s COVID-19 protocols to ensure that no students could get sick from the
event.
The fall plant sale is what the horticulture program builds towards for the entire semester. The
rest of the semester is built towards teaching the students all they need to know about plants and
how to grow them. Learning these skills are necessary for the SFA plant sale. These are not
plants that could be bought at the local Nacogdoches florists or supermarket. The plants that
were sold last Friday were of a variety that anyone would struggle to find anywhere else for the
price.
The horticulture program at SFA promotes dedication, patience and responsibility to its students.
That can be seen with the work they have done to the plants they were able to sell. The plants
that were eligible to sale were all individually taken care of by a student or two from the
program. The plant, that started off as a simple seedling, has now become something worthwhile.
Therefore, the plant sale was so important for the students of the program to have. It is the
embodiment of a semester long body of work. All the time that was put into these plants so that
they can look as good as they can is now worth it when someone sees beauty in it.

Stephen F. Austin State University- Nacogdoches, Texas

Dr. Jared Barnes, associate professor of horticulture and the steward of the Plantery helped lead
the cause for this plant sale. He believes that now is a better time than ever for people wanting to
go out and look for plants to buy. “Thanks to the pandemic over the last several months, more
and more people are forced to be trapped at home to avoid getting sick. Because of this more and
more people have turned to gardening to help relieve some stress and it helps as it is something
to do.” Dr. Barnes knew that pulling off a plant sale in this climate would not be an easy task.

SFASU Plantery – Nacogdoches, Texas

“To ensure that the students in the program had all their work justified, we knew we had to pull
this thing off. Luckily for us most of our plants were suited to be kept outdoors which meant the
spread of the virus would be kept to a minimum.”
On top of all the plant sales being made in the open air, there were a number of pre-cautions and
rules than all attendings had to follow when at the sale.
As necessary as it is in every other business in the state, everyone must be wearing a face
covering of some sort. On top of that, all attendees are encouraged to only use exact change for
all transactions if not by writing a check. This is to ensure that there is the least amount of
contact between people as possible.
Another way that customers had the chance to avoid having any contact with other people is by
having the choice to do in-car pick up. The fall plant sale was an immense success for the
program, and they are now moving forward to a spring sale next semester.