Robertson County Connection
SPRINGFIELD WEATHER

Ms. Cheap: American Legion Auxiliary fundraiser offers great bargains on trees and shrubs



The tree and shrub sale in April is the largest annual fundraiser for the American Legion Auxiliary in Mt. Juliet.
MARY HANCE

With so many homeowners’ landscaping suffering from the winter deep freeze that left many of our beloved trees and shrubs dead and what one of my friends calls “everbrown,” a spring American Legion Auxiliary Tree Sale is a welcome way to buy replacement nursery stock at attractive prices.

“We think it might be our biggest sale,” said Kathy Leedy, Tree Sale Chairman for the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 281 in Mt, Juliet, whose 13th annual sale is coming up in April.

“There are so many people who have lost trees and boxwoods and other things. I hate to take advantage of people but this is for a good cause and in the past our prices ($22 per tree or shrub) have been lower than places like Lowe’s and Home Depot for the same size plants. Plus, ours are dug up fresh.”

Leedy’s auxiliary sold about 2,000 trees and shrubs at last spring’s sale, with some customers buying a tree or two and others buying by the truck load. The trees are all 2-3-year-old saplings and come from the same McMinnville supplier that the organization has used each year.

Leedy says all items are either in 1-3 gallon containers or are balled and burlapped.

“There will be no bare roots,” she said.

The way this popular popup sale works is that you contact Leedy to get an order form featuring 30 types of trees and shrubs which are all priced at $22 each. Then you simply send her a check along with your order by April 12 and pick up your order on April 22 in Mt. Juliet.

This sale is the auxiliary’s main fundraiser with the proceeds going to support a variety of veterans programs and to send 10 girls to Girls State.

There are 30 varieties in this sale, including forsythia, crepe myrtles of all colors, arborvitae, boxwoods, hydrangeas (blue and oak leaf), dogwoods (pink and white), maples, Leyland cypress, lilac, tulip poplars and Japanese Maples, and red bud trees.

All trees are $22. And no sales tax! Trees will be ready for pickup beginning at 8:30 a.m.  Saturday, April 22 at First Baptist Church at 735 N. Mt. Juliet Rd. in Mt. Juliet.

Local high schools’ ROTC programs and local Boy Scout troops, as well as Legion Members from Post 281, will be on hand to help load the stock into customers’ cars and trucks.

For an order form or more information, contact Leedy at (615) 218-7541 or email (preferred) aux281@comcast.net.

Checks should be made to ALA Unit 281, P.O. Box 67, Mt. Juliet, TN 37121. Payments must be received by April 12 and will be followed by an email with a confirmation number.

“All trees are preordered and prepaid,” Leedy said, noting that checks are the preferred method of payment but that shoppers can use a credit card but will have a 4 percent fee added. She said she is hoping to also set up Venmo for payments.

It is perfect timing to have the pickup day on April 22, which is Earth Day. And the theme this year is “Investing in our Planet.” I can’t think of a better way to do that!

Stay cheap!

Mary Hance, who has four decades of journalism experience in the Nashville area, writes a weekly Ms. Cheap column. She also appears on Thursdays on Talk of the Town on NewsChannel5. Reach her at mschep@mainstreetmediatn.com and follow her on Facebook as Facebook.com/mscheap