Qualicum Beach has something for everybody on Saturday, May 5. The fun starts as early as 8:30 am when the farmer’s market opens in Veterans’ Way and the Mount Arrowsmith Rhododendron Society’s (MARS) Spring Fling gets under way in the adjacent Community Hall.
There’s time to shop for produce and plants and more plants before the Fire and Ice Festival gets going uptown at 10 a.m.
Spring Fling, a fundraiser for the Mount Arrowsmith Rhododendron Society, is a garden-related event: besides the gigantic plant sale there are alpines and rare plants and other vendors selling items that range from biscotti and special spice mixes to gifty things from the artistic gardener.
Master gardeners will be on hand to help with identifying plants and gardening guru Harry Sumner will be available to talk to passersby. In the past this sale has been held a week earlier, but difficulty getting adequate space forced the change.
“We hope that the extra crowds for Fire and Ice will stop in, but we’ll just have to wait and see” said Barbara Kulla, co-chair of the event with Marilyn Dawson. “This is our fifth sale in the area and it has been popular in the past. This is the time of year when plant sales are held almost every week, but who can possibly resist them?”
The MARS sale is focused on perennials and plants divided from members’ gardens, but there will be rhododendrons available, some propagated from cuttings, and many of them not easily available.