Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Published 9:23 pm Thursday, May 3, 2012

Washington Garden Club members set out trays of potted herbs in the Nature Room of the North Carolina Estuarium in preparation for Saturday’s annual herb sale. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. (WDN Photo/Christ Prokos)

Get ready. Get set. Go … to the Washington Garden Club’s annual Herb Sale at the North Carolina Estuarium on Saturday.

Come early for the best selection from the herbs and other plants on sale from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

“This is our annual fundraiser. It’s a fun event. We get lots of participation. We have people lining up way before the doors open,” said Eleanor Broderick, chairwoman for the event.

New this year are decorative containers of mixed herbs, an ideal gift for Mother’s Day, Broderick said. Club members are donating for sale “pass-along plants” such as confederate roses from their gardens.

The herbs are from Raindrop Ridge Farm on Camp Leach Road. They include common and more-unusual varieties. Shoppers may choose from a wide assortment of basils, thymes, sages and lavenders plus anise hyssop, bee balm, borage, catnip, scented geraniums, tarragon and many, many more.

Proceeds from the club’s singular fundraiser are used to support the group’s garden planting and maintenance projects throughout the city, Broderick said. Members take care of the gardens at Brown Library and Grace Martin Harwell Senior Center as well as Harding Square on the waterfront and a corner garden at Market and Third streets.

The focus of the 70-member club, one of the oldest in the area, is civic education and beautification, said Edie Miller, club president.

The club meets at 9:30 a.m. the second Friday of each month at the senior center. The meetings are social and educational, and usually include a speaker and a “bench show” at which members display thematic creative arrangements and horticultural education, Miller said.

The North Carolina Estuarium is at 223 Water St.