18 Years of Jane Donelon's Plant Sales for Peace
by Selma Sternlieb
Photo: Rosalie PaulOne of the prettiest gardens in Brunswick belongs to Jane Donelon. About 18 years ago, Jane decided to combine her love of gardening with her concern for peace by having an annual sale of perennial flowers to raise money for organizations that work for peace. Word of this wonderful sale has gotten around, and now hundreds of people flock to her house each spring. This year, the sale was held from 9-10 a.m. on May 17th and 18th. Jane says that people are lined up at the house long before 9 a.m., and after the first 20 minutes, most of them have made their purchases.
The first organization that benefited from her sale was the Brunswick Peace Center. Later, she contributed to the Maine Freeze as well. In 1992, the Maine Peace Campaign was the beneficiary, and later the Maine Peace Fund and the Brunswick-Trinidad Sister City Program received generous donations.
Jane is a retired teacher, and, she says, she loves to teach about plants. She reads dozens of flower books, and is constantly buying and trying new varieties of plants. At this year's sale, she had 90 varieties of perennials. She particularly likes working with new gardeners. She chooses plants that are guaranteed to grow for them. She hopes the result will be eager new gardeners, who can find peace in their gardens as she has in hers.
She also likes to work with experienced gardeners, and for them she has a variety of unusual plants. She invites the people who come to her sale to walk through her garden, so they can get ideas about where and how to plant their flowers.
This year, I decided to try my hand at a plant sale. I am a beginner gardener, but I have lots of plants in my garden, and I too wanted to donate some money to peace work. I didn't spend six weeks preparing for my sale, as Jane did, and I had only 11 varieties of flowers, but I found that it was a wonderful way to meet neighbors, tell them about Peace Action, and share my flowers with them.
I hope to do another sale next year with more varieties of flowers. By then, I'm sure, more people will have heard about the sale, and I will make sure I get a story about it in the local papers. I'd like to encourage Peace Action members who have gardens to have their own sales. Jane says that her formula is simple: get friends to help with dividing the plants and spreading the word, and keep the prices low.
— Selma Sternlieb
Back to Peace Talk Index, Summer, 2003
