MARKUS KING, a junior at Battle Ground High School, works to plant a variety of flowers in small planter baskets for the upcoming Battle Ground High School FFA Plant Sale. King has taken horticulture classes the past three years and said he really enjoys being able to go outside and work with his hands as a part of a school class.
THE TWO GREENHOUSES on the Battle Ground High School campus house approximately 20,000 plants that will be for sale during the school’s annual plant sale May 4-5. The plant sale is organized and run by students involved in the different horticulture classes offered at the high school. Some of the most popular plants at the annual sale include the hanging fuchsia baskets and geraniums.
His hands covered in dirt, Battle Ground High School junior Markus King worked quickly to plant different types of flowers in small containers before his Advanced Horticulture class ended for the day.
“I’m a real outdoors person,” King said. “I love being out here. Sometimes I just wear dirty clothes so I can come out here and work (before other classes) and then just go home and take a shower.”
King is one of 26 students in Chris Yorke’s Advanced Horticulture class at Battle Ground High School. Although a lot of students might choose to take a horticulture class because it can be used as an alternative to some other science classes, most of the students who take it that first year keep coming back for more. King, who is almost done with his third year of taking a horticulture class, said he’s actually thinking about going to school to become a horticulture teacher himself.
Aside from doing all of the seeding, planting, transplanting, watering, and fertilizing, the horticulture students at Battle Ground High School also work to organize, promote and run the annual Plant Sale at the high school. This year’s sale will be held Sat.-Sun., May 4-5, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., at the high school, 300 W. Main St., at the greenhouses on the Main Street side of the campus.
Yorke, who has ran the high school’s plant sale for the past 12 years, said they have approximately 20,000 plants that will be for sale in their two greenhouses. The yearly sale is held as a fundraiser for the horticulture program to help raise funds for supplies needed for the program each year. Yorke said they usually raise around $24,000 on average each year at the sale.
Horticulture students work to organize, promote and run the plant sale each year. Some work over the plant sale weekend as cashiers or help people load plants in their car. They also will walk through the greenhouses and will help answer questions customers might have about specific plants and/or flowers.
Emma Ruff, a senior at the high school, is also currently at the end of her third year in a horticulture class. She said she chose to take horticulture the first year as an alternate to biology, but she ended up loving the class. During her Advanced Horticulture class each day, Ruff said she does a lot of the seeding, transplanting and watering. Over the plant sale weekend, Ruff said she’s going to be there working as a cashier and will also be helping people with their plant questions.
“It (being involved in the plant sale) actually helped with my ‘stage fright,’” Ruff said. “I feel like I can pretty much talk to anyone now.”
Some plants that the Battle Ground High School Plant Sale traditionally offers include marigolds, geraniums, petunias, impatiens, black-eyed susans and plenty of fuschia hanging baskets. Yorke said they have about 3,000 geraniums in just one of the greenhouses. The fuchsia baskets are always very popular and tend to be one of the first things to go at the plant sale.
“We had a good year; we have lots of plants and we had one of the healthiest years for the plants,” Yorke said. “The kids all do a lot of work. They do all the growing, pesticide control, transplanting, watering, fertilizing, etc.”
For more information on the upcoming plant sale, contact Yorke at (360) 885-6522.
Prairie High School FFA Plant Sale
Prairie High School will also hold its annual Plant Sale Sat.-Sun., May 4-5, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., at Prairie High School, 11500 NE 117th Ave., Vancouver. Their greenhouse is located on the southwest corner of the campus. For more information on the Prairie High School Plant Sale, contact Steve McNeal, horticulture teacher, at (360) 885-5000.
