Oak Harbor Garden Club plant sale returns with 800 plants Friday

More than 800 plants will fill the field near the Autumn Leaves sculpture on NE 4th Ave. Friday morning, giving Oak Harbor gardeners a local, low-cost way to stock up before the spring growing season peaks.

The Oak Harbor Garden Club’s annual sale runs from 9 a.m. to noon near North Whidbey Middle School, with free admission and a mix of more than 100 varieties. Club members say the plants are cultivated by the club itself and chosen for Whidbey’s conditions, a practical edge for island households that want healthy starts without gambling on big-box stock.

Shoppers will find perennials, herbs, vegetable starts, houseplants, hanging baskets and color bowls, along with plants in several sizes. The sale is also timed for Mother’s Day, with hanging baskets among the offerings, turning the event into both a gift stop and a yard-refresh stop for families trying to brighten porches, patios and front walks affordably.

For the garden club, the sale is more than a fundraiser. It is one of three major money-making events the volunteer group holds each year, and the proceeds flow back into Oak Harbor through community grants that support new landscaping, plantings, maintenance and updates to existing gardens, and horticulture education tied to those projects. The club says its mission is to develop a beautiful city through the loving care of small spaces.

That mission has left visible marks around town. In recent years, the club has helped with beautification projects at the Oak Harbor Marina, Pioneer Way, the Whidbey Playhouse, the post office, Smith Park and the Oak Harbor Library, extending the sale’s impact well beyond the shoppers who leave with flats and baskets under their arms.

Founded in 1923 as a civic improvement club, the Oak Harbor Garden Club says it is now 100 years strong. Members describe the group as a place where friendship, learning and shared purpose matter as much as horticulture, and they say the club remains open to anyone, even people who do not yet see themselves as experienced gardeners. The club meets the second Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. in the First United Methodist Church meeting room, and guests are welcome.