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Native Plant Sale

Native Plant Sales
June 26 and July 31
9am - 1pm Looking for more native plants to fill in your garden? June and July are still a great times to plant! Our Native Plant Nursery is stocked full of trees, shrubs, perennials, ferns, and vines. Come shop our selection and get the advice you need from Audubon at Home volunteers, who can guide you in choosing the best plants for bird habitat.

These sales will be held in the Native Plant Nursery behind the Maintenance Building.

Shopper’s Guide to Native Plant Selection

Looking for ways to enhance your garden but not sure which plants to use?  Here’s a simple guide for proper plant selection.  

Question:  What are the conditions of my site?
Looking at your site carefully will help you determine which plants are best suited.   

• Dry or wet?  Does anything impede rainwater from reaching the site, like the dense canopy of a large tree or an overhang from a structure? 
• How much sun does the area get?  Morning, afternoon, more than 6 hrs, none at all?  
• What is the soil like? Is it compacted? Is it well-drained and sandy in texture or heavy and slow to drain, like clay?

Like all plants, native species have evolved in specific conditions, like in a sunny floodplain or a shady upland forest.  To thrive with little or no care in our gardens, these plants must be placed in the right conditions.  Asking the questions above will help you focus on which plants are right for your site.

Conceptual Design:  Once you have determined the conditions of your site, create a concept diagram.

A concept diagram will give you a general idea of what your garden will look like.  For example, if your site has loamy soil that stays moist in the spring, dries out in the summer, and is sunny for at least six hours per day, you can create a sunny perennial garden.  Another area may be shaded for most of the day, with good organic soil that is moist in the spring, and moist to dry in the summer.  This area would be appropriate for a woodland garden.

Once you create a concept diagram, you can use it as a guide for your final design, which shows details such as plant placement and species.  Get creative! Forget about planting in straight lines or regular alternating patterns.  Instead, mimic the soft, rounded patterns found in nature. Plant in groupings rather than one of each plant; it will give your garden a more natural appearance. 

Be familiar with the size of the area you wish to plant.  Become familiar with the mature size of what you are planting.  Herbaceous plants can be planted relatively close together, as they are sometimes found in nature.  Understory shrubs and trees need room to spread their branches.  Planting too close will force plants to compete for light and moisture.  Use your judgment and knowledge of the habit and spread of the trees and shrubs you choose for your site.

 

 

 

Nursery Pots

Due to the overwhelming response of our pot recycling program, we will no longer be accepting used nursery pots.  We thank you for taking the time to bring the pots back to us, and thus keeping them out of the trash stream.  Your contributions have saved us hundreds of dollars and the earth from unnecessary fossil fuel consumption. 

In the future, if you have a significant number of one and two quart pots you wish to donate, contact Joanne Donohue at (215) 482-7300, ext. 144 or jdonohue@schuylkillcenter.org.