Houseplants are back in style. I don’t think anyone disputes that. But the crowds I witnessed at two plant sales this past weekend make me believe that people are ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with houseplants and I find it refreshing that I’m not the only one! (I showed the pictures to my husband so he would believe me! haha)

First I went to the African violet show and sale in Ohio at Kingwood Center, which on its own, is a great garden to visit. If you are ever near Mansfield, OH, you must go!

Below is some pictures of the show and sales tables.

At the show so you can see the plants at their biggest and best! Then, after drooling over the blue ribbon plants, you immediately run for the sales table, hoping they have the same plant for sale.

It’s not just African violets, either. Many types of gesneriads are represented at the show. Sinningia, kohleria, streptocarpus, achimenes, and more.

In the judged show they also have dish gardens and terrariums. Each entry must have an African violet included in the display.

And then we come to the Michigan Cactus and Succulent Society and the Southeast Michigan Bromeliad Society plant show and sale. The two clubs collaborate and share a greenhouse at Matthaei Botanical Gardens; having one large sale. They also stage a small show, highlighting some of the members best plants.

The pictures below are of my plants ready for the sale.

I also brought my macrame plant hangers and some potting medium to sell.

Everything of mine was all gone by the end of the sale, as was everyone’s things. It was a mad house! The line of impatient plant lovers stretched down the hall, out the door, and around the parking lot. The wait was over an hour to get into the sales room. I’ve never seen anything like it! It was awesome! And to me, the best part is the fact that most of the people were young adults. There were also a lot of children. I was a cashier, and a few times I watched college kids ask each other for money, count coins and dig deep in their pockets to find enough money so they wouldn’t have to put plants back. I LOVE that kids LOVE houseplants! I grew up in a rural area and I would have died to have gone to a sale like this when I was young. They probably had them, but I was blissfully climbing hay bales with my brothers in our grandparent’s barn and exploring the fields and woods; unaware of things going on in the “big” city. I actually saw a young man that used to work at my husband’s garden center and one of my daughter’s friends there. We’ve rubbed off on them! They are well on their way to being plant nerds like the rest of us!

Below are three of the show plants. They were gorgeous! They could have sold them for a lot of money if they had so desired. We were asked often if they were for sale.

The pictures below are the show plants belonging to the bromeliad society members.

And now onto the cacti and succulent section of the sale.

The sales tables were FULL!!! And by the end every table was EMPTY!

If you love plants, and I am assuming you do, or you wouldn’t be reading this, run as fast as you can to a plant sale if there is one near you. Societies are made up of people dedicated to their chosen plant  and they have the best, most unusual versions of those plants. If you want these unique plants, go to these sales. You will find plants you many never see again. I hope I’ve inspired you to search out  a plant sale near you. Have you been to a sale already? Tell me about it in the comments below!