The 58th Broward County Plant Affair takes over Volunteer Park in Plantation on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24 and 25, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Entry is free, parking is free, and the people selling the orchids, palms and bromeliads are mostly the growers themselves, from Broward and from nurseries across Florida.

What is on the tables

The official postcard for the fall edition reads like a South Florida yard wish list: orchids, succulents, native Florida plants, palms, bromeliads, bamboo, philodendron, landscape plants, desert roses, and a category simply billed as unusual and rare. Handmade garden art is mixed in among the plants. The Plantation Historical Society, which runs the event, also sets up its own tent with a prize wheel to spin.

The practical difference between this and a garden center run is who is behind the table. The Historical Society describes the vendors as local and independent growers who know their stock and can answer questions. That is the conversation you cannot have in a big box aisle: which bromeliad will survive full afternoon sun on a west facing patio, which native shrub will actually bring butterflies to a Plantation backyard, and whether that philodendron wants to live indoors or out.

Thirty years of plant sales, and it started somewhere else

The Plant Affair did not begin in Plantation. According to the Historical Society's history of the event, it started in the 1990s as one piece of an antique festival at the War Memorial in Fort Lauderdale, then grew into a stand alone sale. Its founder, Betty Cobb, was a longtime member of the Historical Society and an active presence in the community until her death in 2017. The event's formal name, the BC Plant Affair, carries her initials.

For most of its life the sale happened once a year. It now runs twice, in May and in October, which is why this weekend's edition is the 58th. The Historical Society calls it one of the longest running plant sales in Broward County, and the edition count backs that up.

Where the money goes

This is a fundraiser as much as a market. Proceeds support the Plantation Historical Society and the Plantation Historical Museum, which the society has backed since 1974 and which sits at 511 N. Fig Tree Lane, sharing a parking lot with the Helen B. Hoffman Plantation Library. The sale also funds the Betty Cobb Scholarship, awarded every year to a graduating high school senior in her memory.

So the person who drives home with a carload of bromeliads and a new orchid is, in a small way, paying to keep the city's museum open and sending a local senior to college. That is a better deal than most weekend errands offer.

Getting there

Volunteer Park is at 12050 W. Sunrise Blvd. in western Plantation, a short drive from Sunrise, Davie and Weston. The City of Plantation listed the weekend in its Oct. 7 community update alongside its other fall events. Questions for the organizers go to [email protected].

A few habits help at a sale like this. Arrive early on Saturday if you are hunting for rare plants, since one-of-a-kind specimens rarely last into Sunday. Bring a wagon or a folding cart for the walk back to the car, and line the trunk with an old towel or a tarp. Ask growers about light and water before you buy, not after.

Why October is the right time

Fall is when South Florida gardens get a second chance. The cooler, drier months that follow are the easiest stretch of the year to get new plants established before next summer's heat, which makes the October edition the one to circle if a bare corner of the yard has been bothering you since spring.

For Plantation residents, it also means one of the longest running plant sales in the county is happening in their own park, for free, two weeks from now. Clear a spot on the patio.