Fall Native Plant Sale at D&R Greenway Land Trust's Native Plant Nursery - Sept. 11th & 12th

WHAT: D&R Greenway Land Trust’s Fall Native Plant Sale.

WHEN: Friday, September 11th from 3 – 6 pm, and Saturday, September 12th from 9 am – noon.

WHERE: D&R Greenway’s Native Plant Nursery at the Johnson Education Center, One Preservation Place, Princeton, off Rosedale Road. 609-924-4646; www.drgreenway.org

WHY: Eco-conscious gardening using native species provides essential food for wildlife; contributes to a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem; and creates low maintenance plantings.

D&R Greenway Land Trust invites the public to its annual Fall Native Plant Sale, held outside the Johnson Education Center from 3 – 6 pm on Friday, September 11th and from 9 am – noon on Saturday, September 12th. The Nursery is located at One Preservation Place, south of Princeton, off Rosedale Road. No registration is required. D&R Greenway’s Native Plant Nursery is a community resource for regionally native plants that contribute to a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem. D&R Greenway nursery staff is available to advise the best choice of plants for gardening projects. The Fall season is a great time for planting projects; planting can be done into early November.

Featured at the sale will be floral-themed art by Mary Ackerman Buckwalter (1918 – 2007), a well-known local artist. Ms. Buckwalter lived in Raritan Township; as well as exhibiting in area galleries, her work was also shown in New York City. A generous 80% of the proceeds from the sale of Ms. Buckwalter’s art will go to D&R Greenway and is tax-deductible to the buyer.

Native plants are adapted to central New Jersey’s climate, making them more drought-resistant than most exotic plants, and also provide essential food & habitat resources for wildlife. In the Fall season, wildlife are busy storing enough food for hibernation or migration, and native plants are rich in the calories they need to get them through winter or to warmer climates. Gardeners can help by adding native plants to their property! An example is winterberry, whose bright red berries persist into early winter and provide a late-season food source.

D&R Greenway’s plants are grown from genetically local seeds gathered on their preserves, and from locally sourced plugs and bare-root plants. They are tended in the nursery throughout the year by staff and skilled volunteers.

Plants are available in quart, gallon and two-gallon-sized pots from $5 to $15. A full catalog is available online at www.drgreenway.org/PlantCatalog.html. Please contact Emily Blackman, Nursery Manager, to check species availability at (609) 924-4646, or eblackman@drgreenway.org.

D&R Greenway’s Native Plant Nursery will offer four additional Friday afternoon sales this season from 3 – 5 pm on September 18th & 25th, and October 2nd & 9th.

Background

Because central New Jersey’s native plants and wildlife evolved together, they are highly adapted to and dependent upon each other. Native plant nutrition is especially critical for wildlife at energy-intensive times of the year, such as spring and fall migration, and during courtship and breeding. In turn, native plants rely upon wildlife for pollination and seed dispersion. Whereas indigenous plants support diversity and disease-resistance, invasive species form monocultures that outcompete other plants. Replacing them with native species, which co-exist, creates a complex, vibrant ecosystem vital to both plants and animals.

D&R Greenway Land Trust has preserved 19,000 acres of land in central New Jersey. Their mission is to preserve a network of natural lands and open space accessible to the public, and to inspire a conservation ethic through educational programming, including increasing awareness of the benefits of native species. The nursery provides plants for habitat restoration projects on D&R Greenway managed land, for use by home gardeners, and for native garden projects by schools and other conservation non-profits.