Stephanie Ensley and Virginia Bartos, members and chairs of the Holborn Herb Growers plant sale, look forward to the return of the annual plant sale, set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 22 at the vegetable building on the Canfield Fairgrounds. A variety of herbs, perennials, twice-loved gardening books and cookbooks will be available.

CANFIELD — The Holborn Herb Growers Guild is back at it with spring in high gear.

Members are tending their assigned gardens and are ready for the return of the annual plant sale on May 22 at the Canfield Fairgrounds.

Holborn spokeswoman MaryGrace Fowler said last year was a tough one for fundraisers. As for the gardens, the members kept up their efforts.

“We have had a quiet year because of COVID, but we are anxious to begin gardening this month,” Fowler said.

She said members worked their assigned gardens in 2020. A few monthly meetings were held outdoors last year when weather permitted.

The growers guild started in 1982. It was formed to help educate and showcase herbs in the gardens. It derives its name from a famous herbal garden in England.

According to a brief history written by founding member Carrie (Bookwalter) Burkey, Holborn is a very “fashionable area in the center of London.” It was home to John Gerard, a well-known English herbalist who wrote “Generall Historie of Plantes” in 1597. Burkey said Gerard’s herbs and gardens became famous to surgeons, botanists and students. His gardens were known as the first public herb gardens in England.

In 1665, London was hit with the Great Plague and the following year a massive fire took place in the city. Almost everything in Holborn was burned to the ground, including Gerard’s gardens. That great fire occurred in September, but amazingly, in spring of the following year, the herbs come back.

Burkey said the Holborn Herb Growers Guild wanted a meaningful name, and Holborn was the key part of that beginning.

Depite COVID-19, the mission remains the same: caring for herb gardens at Boardman Park and the gardens in the Western Reserve Village at the Canfield Fairgrounds.

Proceeds from the annual plant sale and the annual high tea, normally held in September help purchase new plants for the gardens and provide for a college scholarship to a student majoring in horticulture.