Members of the Cochrane and District Horticultural Society went through many hoops to produce a winner of a sale to help the Cochrane Public Library.

About 40-members strong, the society offered over 300 items in a plant and seed sale, from indoor and outdoor plants to supplies and books.

They received a strong response and raised $687 for the public library.

There was plenty of back and forth involved in pulling off the sale, especially with COVID-19 restrictions being a moving target.

"It's such a generous donation, and I'm just in awe of those ladies being able to organize this," says Jessie Pepin, community outreach and program librarian for the Cochrane Public Library.

"The amount of agility and planning that those wonderful green-thumbed horticulturalists were able to pull off is just astounding, and they're so generous," she says.

Pepin says no formal decision has been reached on where funds will be used. Input from the horticulturalists will be taken into account, and it will also be used for the gardens on the library grounds.

"That's a really big number for us. Every donation makes a big difference here, and we put it all back into the community."

The gardens on the library's grounds are maintained by staff and volunteers. Pepin says they welcome more volunteers to help with the gardens.

Paola Dottor-Cena spearheaded this event for the society, and it was originally planned as an in-person sale. When that was no longer possible, it became an online sale.

It was the Horticultural Society's first such fundraiser and follows a successful fall sale. They hope to continue to make it a semi-annual event.