The St. Albert Botanic Park’s annual Mother's Day rose sale has moved online this year.
For around 25 years, the park has been selling roses on Mother’s Day as one of its main fundraisers to keep the park running year round.
But this year, the team at the park – mostly comprised of volunteers – had to bring the sale online for the first time ever due to restrictions from COVID-19.
Richard Plain, co-founder of the park and 35-year volunteer, said the president and team of very skilled volunteers set up an online shop and curbside pickup plan so St. Albertans can still get their roses.
“Once they've purchased them, then we schedule it and we set the roses outside of chain link, patio area so that people can come in and pick up the roses and they are clear from any social distancing issues or anything else,” Plain said.
The park orders the roses in mid-March and grows them in a greenhouse until the Mother’s Day sale in May.
The rose aficionado said the online shop is great for getting the 500 to 600 roses they have ordered this year out, but he will miss the personal interaction from the shoppers coming into the park.
Plain said he will miss kids coming in to pick out roses for their moms or families coming in to pick out the perfect plant for grandma.
“We have chats and we have our experienced rose people there that can talk about each of the roses and explain them and the various types ... and do all the normal things you should do when you're shopping and having sort of an enjoyable outing,” Plain said.
The sale drew in big fans in the city, with many rose-lovers waiting at the gate for the sale to open to get their hands on the new roses being offered that year.
The sale is important to the volunteer-run park to help them buy supplies and stay open for free to the public throughout the year. The other main source of revenue the park has is to host weddings and events, which are restricted due to COVID-19 this year.
Plain said he is hopeful some couples will choose the park, which is currently closed until May 31, for their smaller weddings this year.
“Our rose garden weddings, the opportunities might turn out to be very attractive to many people ... there's a great big rose garden out there,” Plain said, adding there is plenty of space for social distancing.
“It’s a popular spot for smaller weddings.”
Despite both of the park's major fundraising streams being impacted by COVID-19 this year, Plain said the park has enough in reserves to get through a tough year.
The rose sale begins May 8 and will run through the month. Pickups will be scheduled every day from noon to 5 p.m.
Shoppers can head to stalbertbotanicpark.com to shop for their roses. The shop has pictures of each rose available. People who can't make the noon-to-five window can email the park at [email protected].
