Annual Native Plant Sale Comes to Westchester Community College

From Westchester Community College:

Lovers of birds, butterflies, and other pollinators will find a feast for nature at The Native Plant Center’s 17th annual Native Plant Sale on Saturday, April 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Westchester Community College in Valhalla. The sale opens to the public at 10 a.m. Native Plant Center members may enter at 9:30 a.m. Admission is free.

“Native plants inherently provide sustenance and shelter of high value for area wildlife,” says Carol Capobianco, Director of The Native Plant Center. “The sale will feature hundreds of perennials, shrubs, and trees that provide essential food and cover for animals.”

Among the plants that support these creatures with berries, seeds, or nectar—and that will be available at the sale—are serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) and gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa), coastal plain Joe-pye weed (Eutrochium dubium) and grasses (Panicum spp. and others), and trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) and wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). In total, more than 100 species and varieties of plants will be available at the sale.

The Native Plant Center’s two plant of the year picks for 2016 are bird-friendly species that will be for sale. The Native Woody of the Year, winterberry (Ilex verticillata), is a deciduous shrub whose brilliant red berries persist after the leaves have fallen, providing a late winter food source for birds. The bright-red tubular flowers of the Native Perennial of the Year, beebalm (Monarda didyma), attract hummingbirds in summer.

Also offered at the sale will be enduring garden favorites such as phlox (Phlox spp.) and coralbells (Heuchera spp.) as well as milkweed (Asclepias spp.), an important host plant for the imperiled monarch butterfly.

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

The sale is located on Westchester Community College’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 nativeplantcenter.org, email wcc.nativeplant@sunywcc.org, or call 914-606-7870.

The Native Plant Center was established in 1998 as the first national affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. The Native Plant Center 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.