For avid gardeners in search of a hard-to-find pink Forsythia or hoping to plant a gold-medal Spicebush in their gardens, a good place to start looking might be the Delaware Horticultural Society’s 29th annual Rare Plant Auction.
This year’s auction, to be held on April 25 at Longwood Gardens at 6:30 p.m., puts special emphasis on plants bred or discovered in the Philadelphia area, plants that provide nectar for birds or insects and fruit-bearing trees and patio plants.
More than 600 plants from 100 nurseries were donated for last year’s auction, which raised more than $152,000 for the Delaware Center for Horticulture.
Winning bids can range from $25 to thousands of dollars and all proceeds benefit the Community Greening Program, which beautifies city parks, sustains community gardens in low-income neighborhoods and enhances the urban tree canopy.
The event is broken into four separate silent auctions and one live auction of particularly rare or interesting plants. Visitors also receive admission to Longwood Gardens for the day, cocktails and a gourmet dinner.
Ticket prices start at $200, but a special “Young Collectors” ticket price of $100 is available for people under 40.
Buy tickets online at rareplantauction.org or call Joe Matassino, DCH director of development, at (302) 658-6262.
