From baskets to plants, Loveland Garden Club sale offers variety

LOVELAND, CO -- Loveland resident Darlene Dengler weaves reeds into a small basket in her booth at the Loveland Garden Club's plant sale and market on Saturday, May 11, 2019. Making basets is more of a hobby than a business for Dengler, who sells her differet styles during different markets and events in the region. — LOVELAND, CO — Loveland resident Darlene Dengler weaves reeds into a small basket in her booth at the Loveland Garden Club’s plant sale and market on Saturday, May 11, 2019. Making basets is more of a hobby than a business for Dengler, who sells her differet styles during different markets and events in the region.

By Pamela Johnson | johnsonp@reporter-herald.com | Loveland Reporter-Herald

PUBLISHED: May 11, 2019 at 3:31 p.m. | UPDATED: May 11, 2019 at 3:32 p.m.

Some say the Loveland Garden Club plant sale is the start of summer.

Loveland resident Darlene Dengler weaves reeds into a small basket in her booth at the Loveland Garden Club’s plant sale and market on Saturday. Making baskets is more of a hobby than a business for Dengler, who sells her different styles during markets and events in the region.

Loveland resident Darlene Dengler wants the baskets she weaves by hand to have specific uses, though those vary with the imagination.

One small basket separated by a wooden piece, for example, houses her recipe cards, while for her husband, Terry, serves as a place to keep deodorant and bathroom supplies.

She makes baskets to hold pies, ones that are the shape of tissue boxes, fruit baskets and many other creations people can use in many different ways.

For her, basket making is a hobby and a side business in her retirement. She learned the craft 20 years ago at community college in Pennsylvania and formerly taught classes. When she and her husband moved to Loveland, she started making baskets with her excess supplies.

Basket maker Darlene Dengler is quick at weaving baskets by hand. The Loveland resident weaved reeds together for a small basket, one of many styles she had for sale at the Loveland Garden Club’s annual plant sale on Saturday.

Last year, they began selling them at a few events, the first Fort Collins’ Artisan Market and most recently the Loveland Garden Club’s annual plant sale on Saturday. She is keeping the business end small so she is able to enjoy and have fun with her hobby.

One thing she enjoys the most is the people she meets through her booths.

“Selling baskets is really cool, but talking to people, getting to know people, it’s neat to visit with people,” said Dengler, one of many people with booths at the plant sale on Saturday.

Crowds gathered at the plant sale at All Saints Episcopal Church, 3448 N. Taft Ave., shopping specialty booths that included baskets, wood crafts, gardening supplies and decorations and of course plants. The Garden Club sells vegetables, flowers, herbs and more every year, raising money for scholarships for students who study horticulture at Front Range Community College.

Jane Hawk, who recently moved to Loveland, bought cosmos, white iris plants and tomato starters.

“The cosmos get really tall, and they spread,” she said. “They come up every year, and you get more and more and more of them.”

Residents Nancy Horst and Karen French said they come every year to shop for plants.

“This is a must-do,” said French. “They have good plants.”

Gayle Schneider, too, comes every year and picks up plants. Saturday she was consulting with Linda MacArthur, a Fort Collins resident and Garden Club member, about varieties of rose bushes.

“To me, it’s the start of summer,” said Schneider. “It’s the kickoff.”