Nov. 30-Dec. 1: Holiday Plant Sale Blooms With Bargains

Even when it's nippy outside, it's almost tropical-feeling as Pam Bishop winds through a maze of sights and scents atop Rievschl Hall.

Things are heating up even more beneath the glass ceiling of the biology department's greenhouse as Bishop and workers prep for a Nov. 30-Dec. 1 holiday plant sale. Held biannually – just after before Christmas, and again before Mother's Day – sales benefit operating costs at the facility.

"We've been really happy with how much we've made in the past – we really depend on it," said Bishop, greenhouse manager.

Pam Bishop is surrounded by varied scents and sights in the biology department's greenhouse.

At 25 by 150 feet and 40 years old, the greenhouse is not fancy or high-tech: "It's a teaching greenhouse, and it does get crowded," Bishop said.

Yet, year after year, UC students, including freshman biology students, learn the basics of plant life here. It's a true hotbed of faculty research, where varied ecosystems are represented and majors as different as engineering and environmental studies team for projects.

"Our No. 1 purpose is research. That's why it was constructed, and that's our highest priority," said Bishop. "We try to maintain a diverse collection."

But though space is at a premium, the rooms burst with different colors, shapes and sizes. There's everything from rosemary to plantain trees, from ponytail palms, fiery powderpuff and bougainvillea to rabbit's foot ferns whose hairy little "feet" dangle outside their pots.

Several varieties of scent leaf geraniums (rose, pepperment and pine scents) are best enjoyed in an area with good light.

The tallest plant is a towering rubber tree. The smallest is probably Baby's Tears, "which creeps along the soil surface and has leaves only a millimeter or two long," Bishop said.

Dan Soules, third-year environmental studies major, works part-time at the greenhouse, with duties include pruning and fertilizing the offerings. He didn't, he said, know a lot about plants before taking on the job.

Dan Soules grooms a hanging basket of variegated Swedish ivy.

"No – not at all," he said, removing dead leaves from a plant.

Many plants, especially the old, large ones, were early donations from Krohn Conservatory. Bishop occasionally purchases plants for display or class use as needed.

"We supply plants for the sixth-floor showcases, so I like to add a new one now and then. I sometimes purchase plant material for classes, such as tulip bulbs, but most class plants we grow from cuttings or seed," she said.

Faculty also purchase some plants for their classes from time to time, she said. A few examples: Coleus, Pelargonium, peas, beans, corn, tomato and tobacco.

Some plants were obtained by researchers for their projects – and we're not talking your run-of-the-mill potted plant.

"An example is Polyalthia glauca, Indonesian trees brought back by one of our faculty from a sabbatical," Bishop said. "They may be the only specimens of these trees in the U.S. We also have some very rare Aroids, some of which are being used for research currently."

Greenhouse manager Pam Bishop tends to a pot of spearmint.

The holiday sale will teem with tropical houseplants in dozens of varieties, suitable for hanging or desk-topping.

Chinese evergreens – similar to jade – and other succulents will be on sale, along with "a lot of spider plants" and "all types of ferns."

Light-loving pothos – "the standard plant to put in an office," Bishop said – will also be plentiful.

Don't, however, head out looking for poinsettias: "We don't have those. They're very demanding, and they're cheap even at the grocery store," said Bishop.

Get hour and price details on the Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 holiday plant sale.