Volunteers at the Fresno County Master Gardeners’ Garden of the Sun have worked full tilt for six months to produce thousands of reasonably priced landscape and vegetable plants for the public, aiming to encourage residents to reap the physical and mental health benefits of growing beautiful, healthful gardens.
The effort is also one of the most important fundraising projects undertaken annually by the Fresno County Master Gardeners, a volunteer arm of the University of California which provides free gardening demonstrations, information and classes for adults and children.
And besides meeting these goals, propagating, nurturing and selling a multitude of new plants is a passion project for a dedicated team of propagation volunteers.
Seeds, cuttings and divisions from plants growing at the Garden of the Sun are the basis of many of the new specimens. Several Master Gardeners also share cuttings and collect seeds from their own home gardens, and others start thousands of seeds at home. But perhaps the most fun for the volunteers is seeing what unusual new plants they can offer to Fresno County gardeners each year. In 2026, the new selections include blue lace flower, unique Celosia varieties, bachelor’s buttons (Centorea) and longevity spinach, a perennial vegetable used in Eastern medicine to promote long life.
A variety of unusual tomatoes are being offered this year, such as Sunset Torch, Cherokee Purple and Tangerine, plus many favorite varieties, including Ace, Beef Steak, Sweet 100 and Honey Delight. About 200 grafted tomato plants were carefully propagated and nurtured by a volunteer Master Gardener. These premium tomato plants are grafted on a robust root variety that imparts greater vigor and disease resistance. (Learn more about grafted tomatoes here.)
All this plant propagation requires thousands of hours of time from the volunteers, starting in September when seed offerings are researched, through the fall and cold, foggy days of winter, arranging plants on heating mats in greenhouses and regularly irrigating and feeding the seedlings. As the plants grow and require potting in larger and larger containers, the team gathers elbow-to-elbow around potting benches and replants them by hand, one by one, in bushels of potting soil custom mixed by members of the soil team.
Production was boosted in 2026 with the addition of a large plant house built by Master Gardener volunteers from new and donated materials, and a donated cloner that allowed for rapid rooting of salvias, petunias, herbs and other plants that were challenging to propagate.
All the plants are now available for early-birds Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Garden of the Sun, 1750 N. Winery Ave. in Fresno. The official Spring Plant Sale is from 1 to 5 p.m. March 19 and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 20 and 21 at 907 E. Pico Ave, Fresno, CA (Northeast corner of Pico and Maroa). Plants will also be available at the Garden of the Sun from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 28 during the free Education Day event and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 25 during the Spring Garden Tour. After the tour, leftover plants will be donated to non-profit organizations that garden.
________________
Written by UC Master Gardener Jeannette Warnert