By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

LeCroy Career Technical Center greenhouse class is hosting its annual plant sale.

The Greenhouse, located to the left of the main building, is selling to the public during school hours through the end of April.

Teacher Landon Lowery said he decides what plants to grow and sell based on what has been popular in the past.

“We didn’t sell a lot of certain things, so we dropped it and added some new things just trying to get what the community wants,” Lowery said. “I am still learning some of that as well, but we will adjust yearly just based on the previous year.”

This year’s selection includes a variety of vegetable plants including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and Indian peas, as well as Impatiens, Petunia, Geranium, Coleus, SunPatient, Begonia (Angel Wing, Wax, and Dragon Wing), Vinca, Lantana, Bacopa, Calibrachoa and a few other varieties.

Flats are available for $10. Hanging baskets are $12, 4-inch cups are $2.50 and 5-inch cups are $3.50.

Proceeds from the sale are used for supplies for the program.

Lowery said he and students are on hand to answer specific questions about the plants.

Student Bailey Boockholdt said he was more interested in the crops that were being grown in the greenhouse than the flowers.

Boockholdt said his favorite plants to work with are tomatoes and eggplants because of the number of crops each produces.

“All of my life, I have been around plants,” Boockholdt said.

Student Garrett Wells said he was involved in preparing the soils and getting the seeds planted.

“My grandmother, she has a greenhouse at her house. I always did that stuff for her, so I wanted to come here and do it too,” Wells said. “And it’s fun.”

He said the horticulture program is a good opportunity to work outside.

His favorite plant to work with in the horticulture program is the strawberries.

“This year we have had a tough time with strawberries,” Lowery said.

Continued frost has prolonged the development of the school’s strawberry plants. He said each frost delays the ripening of the plant by 30 days.

This semester Tyler Abbott has enjoyed working with the tomato and flowering plants.

Abbott said he has learned a lot from Lowery throughout the course.

He became interested in horticulture because of his grandfather.

“All of my life, I have been around farming. Me and my grandpa, we farmed together when I was real little,” Abbott said.

Abbott said the class installed a water system to come on intermittently to give the plants the right amount of water.

Itzel Romero said she has enjoyed working with the variety of plants in the greenhouse.

“It’s been great,” Romero said “We have a great teacher.”

She said she has especially enjoyed working with the strawberry plants.

The horticulture program includes forestry, turf grass and greenhouse management.

The classes offered at LeCroy provide students the opportunity to test for least six industry certifications.