People lined up early the morning of Feb. 10 at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds (Barn H) to purchase fruit trees from the Texas Master Gardeners of Fort Bend County.
Master Gardener/Chairperson Barbara Brannon said, “We were blessed with the best and warmest weather we have ever had. Things started out slow but moved along at a nice pace.” She called it “a great sale.”
Master Gardener/Fundraising Director Ursula Cooper said more than 600 customers came to shop. The total number of shoppers was a little less than last year, probably due to the rain forecasted for Saturday morning – which didn’t occur, Cooper said MGs sold 1,390 trees compared to 1,100 the previous year. A new feature this year was the addition of pecan trees, which Cooper said were in great demand. Brannon said, “We sold pecan trees years ago but interest in them disappeared so we stopped selling them. This year we decided to try them again and there was a lot of renewed interest.”
More than 500 citrus – lemons, limes, oranges, satsumas, etc – were sold, continued Cooper. “I would say that was pretty great.” Apples, berries and stone fruit sold very quickly, she added, and tropicals – mangoes, pineapples, guava, passion fruit and dragon fruit – were a big hit. Brannon said, ” We only purchase trees that have proven to do well in this area. Every year is different and a lot has to do with temperatures just prior to the sale. Long stretches of warm weather make people think about spring and a renewed interest in planting and ‘grow your own’. An extreme cold spell just before a sale also affects the way people think when purchasing plants. We don’t want to discourage customers from looking ahead to warmer days.”
Tropicals are grown by Master Gardeners or purchased just before the sale. They are mostly planted in pots and brought into shelter during winter frosts and freezes.
Master Gardeners made changes to the structure of the sale this year including the addition of cashiers, expanded customer parking and volunteers answering questions of customers waiting in line before the sale opened. “And we have more ideas for next year,” said Brannon, who added, “We had a lot of positive feedback from customers standing in the check-out line.”
All FBMG fundraisers, courses, and events are brought to the community by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Fort Bend County.
