Don't Miss: Native Plant Sale at Westchester Community College

MOUNT PLEASANT, NY — Looking for versatile plants that provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies, and bees, and add splendor to your landscape? They will take center stage at The Native Plant Center’s 18th annual Native Plant Sale April 29. Admission to the annual event is free.

“Native plants are special and are sought out by more people each year,” says Carol Capobianco, Director of The Native Plant Center. “The sale continues to grow as gardeners recognize the wildlife value and beauty of native plants.”

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Pollinator magnets, monarch butterfly host plants, and hummingbird- and songbird-friendly species will be for sale including mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp.), milkweed (Asclepias spp.), trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), and blueberry (Vaccinium spp.). In total, more than 100 plant species and varieties and more than 3,000 plants will be available.

The Native Plant Center’s two “plant of the year” picks for 2017 will be for sale.

The Native Woody of the Year, spicebush (Lindera benzoin), is a deciduous shrub whose fragrant yellow flowers in early spring provide color to awakening woodlands, whose red fruit attracts birds, and whose aromatic leaves turn yellow in fall. The masses of lavender-pink flowers of wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), the Native Perennial of the Year, attract pollinators to the shade garden; the seeds are eaten by birds and mammals.

Also offered at the sale will be enduring garden favorites such as phlox (Phlox spp.), coralbells (Heuchera spp.), and asters (Symphyotrichum spp.) as well as beautiful grasses, ferns, and shrubs. Always offered, too, are a few surprises not easily found elsewhere.

Native plant specialists will be on hand throughout the sale to answer questions and assist gardeners in choosing great options for their sites.

The Native Plant Center was established in 1998 as the first national affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. It maintains demonstration gardens and educates the public about the environmental necessity, economic value, and natural beauty of native plants through conferences, field trips, and classes in its Go Native U continuing education program.

The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Westchester Community College in Valhalla.

The sale is located on WCC’s main campus at 75 Grasslands Road in Valhalla, New York. Sale attendees should enter the East Grasslands Entrance and park in Lot #1.

Volunteers are needed to prepare for the sale and to assist on sale day itself. Those interested in volunteering, or those seeking further information about the sale, should visit online, email wcc.nativeplant@sunywcc.org, or call 914-606- 7870.