In new state-of-the-art greenhouses in Scarborough, the Morrison Center uses its annual plant sale ?to help disabled adults.

SCARBOROUGH – Scott Parker enjoys taking part in the Morrison Developmental Center’s Seedling Program, where adults with developmental disabilities grow plants in greenhouses and sell them to the community.

“I like working with plants,” Parker, 36, said last week, as he sat in his wheelchair carefully transplanting geraniums from smaller pots to larger ones. “They clean up the air and make us think about spring after the long winter.”

Now it is spring – and time for the center’s Annual Greenhouse Sale & Open House, set for May 13 and 14 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers at the annual sale will find something new and many things familiar.

What is new is that the sale will be at the Morrison Developmental Center’s brand-new, 31,000-square-foot facility at 60 Chamberlain Road in Scarborough. The nonprofit organization, which provides comprehensive services to children and adults with and without disabilities, moved to the Scarborough campus last fall from its former longtime location on Veranda Street in Portland. The new building boasts two state-of-the-art greenhouses instead of the one greenhouse in the old building.

Customers, many of whom have been coming to the sale for years, still will find what has drawn them to the greenhouse sale traditionally: lots of healthy plants – including some unusual varieties – at reasonable prices. And they’ll also get the satisfaction of knowing that the proceeds from the sale go directly to support the Seedling Program, helping program participants like Parker. –

“There is no profit from this,” said Elaina Chiarchiaro, team leader for the program. “It’s a totally different type of horticulture.”

Each participant will get 60 percent of the selling price of each plant he or she helped to grow, Chiarchiaro said. A bar code sticker on each pot tells which participant worked on which plant.

Prices for the plants range from $3 for a six-pack of seedlings of everything from vegetables to flowers, to $10 for a 10-inch hanging basket of geraniums or other flowers.

The remaining 40 percent of the proceeds goes back into the program for supplies, Chiarchiaro said.

Chiarchiaro, a horticultural therapist who said her job is ideal because it combines her love of plants and her love of people, spoke last week in one of the center’s new greenhouses. Filled with lush foliage, the greenhouses have such features as radiant heat in the flooring.

“It’s bigger and has more space for greenhouses,” said Matt Cain, 24, of the large, sunny, new facility.

“I like it.”

Cain is one of the 21 participants in the Seedling Program. The program, which the center’s development director, Dorothy Ann White, said has been in existence for at least two decades, is among a variety of programs offered at the center.

In the Seedling Program, the participants learn how to grow and care for plants, ranging from houseplants to vegetables and flowers people can plant in their gardens.

As Parker transplanted geraniums into larger pots, carefully tamping down soil to cover the roots, Chiarchiaro asked him why it’s necessary to make sure there is enough soil in the pots. With prompting, Parker explained that air pockets could develop, which are harmful to the plant.

Another program participant, Susie Cloutier, 22, of Portland, was standing next to Parker. Her gloves and aprons were covered with dirt, but Cloutier was clearly enjoying her work.

“I love this greenhouse,” she said. “I love geraniums.”

In additions to standards like geraniums, the greenhouses specialize in odd and unusual varieties of plants, according to the center. For example, the center has an extensive orchid selection. Chiarchiaro said that more than 1,000 orchids are for sale, but some are so unusual they are just for viewing at the greenhouses.

In addition to special sales — such as the May sale and one during the Christmas season – the greenhouses are open to the public for plant purchases throughout the year. The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Other unusual plants include coffee plants — to grow your own beans – tropical pitcher plants, and night-blooming cereus, Chiarchiaro said.

In addition to learning about horticulture, Seedling Program participants also learn life skills.

Cain said the program teaches him, “how to get along with my co-workers.”

Also, Chiarchiaro said, selling the plants to the public is not just a way for program participants to earn money for their labor. They also learn how to work with customers, helping them to select plants and purchase them, she said.

She said adults with developmental disabilities can feel isolated from others, even if they’re taken on trips to busy places like the Maine Mall. “You eat lunch in the food court, but that’s still isolating,” she said.

But Chiarchiaro said that participating in the Seedling Program allows them to be interactive – with each other as they work together to grow plants, and with customers.

“They are definitely part of a community, their own community and part of a larger community,” she said.

Elaina Chiarchiaro, team leader for the Morrison Developmental Center’s Seedling Program, holds some of the purple datura plants grown at the greenhouses in the center’s new Scarborough location. The Seedling Program is for adults with developmental disabilities, who learn to grow plants in the greenhouses. Proceeds from the center’s Greenhouse Annual Sale & Open House on May 13 and 14 go to support the program and its participants. (Staff photo by Chris Shipley)