“It's a fundraiser for the gardens,'' McGrath said. “A big misconception is people think that we're funded by the university and we're not. We have to raise all of our own funds, which is why we're putting this sale on.”

Originally, the gardens sold its surplus plants, but now almost all of the plants for sale are grown specially for the event, from cuttings of other plants. McGrath said the collection grows every year.

The sale is run in part by volunteers and horticultural students – senior Katarina Gonzalez-Garcia and sophomore Ben Kuntzsch have been preparing for the event, propagating, tagging and counting plants.

“I personally have probably propagated a few hundred plants,” Kuntzsch said.

 “We have a stock plant collection," Kuntzsch said. "And then the outdoor plants that we bring in in the fall, we were also able to just cut them up and create multiple plants out of them for the sale.”

Gonzalez-Garcia said euphorbia, string of banana, string of dolphins, a collection of cacti and succulents and a few Venus flytraps are among the plants available for purchase on Friday. She also said the event draws a large crowd, so shoppers looking for specific plants should arrive early.

“Anybody who's interested in plants or just wants to help fund the gardens, more than welcome to come out look and see what we have,” Gonzalez-Garcia said.