California Native Plant Society Spring Sale April 8 at the Arboretum

Could there be a better year to plant natives in the spring? Soils are thoroughly, deeply wetted and plants and humans alike are rebounding after the terrible storms.

Volunteers with the Santa Cruz Chapter of CNPS have been busy since the fall sale, propagating more and greater varieties of plants for the spring sale, hosted as ever by the good people at Suncrest Nurseries in Watsonville. We are grateful to all the volunteers and to Suncrest for their ongoing support.

Many natives will propagate happily in your garden, too, increasing its beauty and supporting more wildlife each year. You can help them by gathering seeds and bulbs from plants growing in your garden to replant directly or grow in pots first--a great activity to do with children. Or you can just let nature take its course.

The sale will offer more than twenty species of spring annuals, many grown from seed gathered (with permission) from wild land around our county. If your garden suits them, they'll return year over year.

Native plants that grow from with bulbs or corms can also increase each year. This year’s sale will offer a wider selection of spring flowering bulbs than before, including species in the Allium, Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, and Triteleia genera. Bulbs are best grown in pots or gopher baskets because many are relished by wildlife. You can empty the pots every few years and sift out the bulbs for additional plantings.

Clumps of native Iris species, as well as relatives such as blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), can be divided in fall and spread around to form new clumps. Several species of these beautiful, low-care plants will be for sale, offering stunning blooms and deep green leaf blades.

Grasses too can spread by seed. There are more kinds of cool- and warm-season grasses in the sale than before, such as Anthoxanthum, Aristida, Bouteloua, Festuca, Koeleria, and Muhlenbergia species. Grasses add delightful texture to a garden, provide ground cover and shade for wildlife such as fence lizards, and offer food for seed-eating birds. You can scatter seed and scuff it into the soil or grow some in pots.

Yet another genus that is available in larger quantities and varieties this year is Dudleya. This succulent, available in shades from chalk white to rich green, is a sculptured beauty, and can be used in patio pots and mounds in a garden. Hummingbirds will relish sipping the nectar from their colorful flowers, which grow atop stalks.

Besides all these you’ll find many other colorful perennials, ferns, and shrubs for all types of garden conditions for sale. Come early to choose from the tremendous variety of native plants on offer.