Maine Audubon is pleased to announce its annual Native Plants Festival and Sale will take place this year on Saturday, June 7, from 9 am to 3 pm. The popular festival, designed to showcase and provide information about the importance of native plants, will take place at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, 20 Gilsland Road, Falmouth.
The festival is one of the cornerstones of the “Bringing Nature Home program,” which focuses on restoring and rebuilding Maine’s natural biodiversity by planting the native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees that support the widest array of wildlife.
The festival and sale will include 100+ species of native wildflowers, ferns, shrubs, and tree seedlings for sale, as well as special guests, information tables, and more. There will be more species available than ever, with many of the usual suspects, but also some less common species such as Flowering Big-bracted-dogwood, Inkberry, and Crowberry. The festival is free and open to the public. (Please note: pets are not allowed at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center.) See this year’s plant list here >
Guest Speakers
We’re very excited to be welcoming some special guests for talks in the Visitor Center at this year’s festival. Learn more about the speakers and the special topics they will be covering at the festival.
11:30 am–12:15 pm: Gardening for Wildlife with Seana Cullinan, Larkspur Design
12:30 –1:15 pm: Incorporating Meadows into the Landscape with Owen Wormser
1:30–2:15 pm: Honey Bees; Not so Sweet for our Native Pollinators? with Shawn Jalbert, Native Haunts
2:30–3:15 pm: Rain Gardens that work: Choosing Plant Communities that will Thrive and Engage Communities in Stewardship with Ryan Corrigan, Parterre Ecologic
About the Speakers:
Seana Cullinan: Gardening for Wildlife
Incorporating native plants into the landscape is an essential way to provide food, habitat and connectivity for wildlife. Seana Cullinan will share stories and examples of all the ways in which we can create dynamic, and resilient gardens that support the life cycles of pollinators, birds and more.
Seana Cullinan has been studying horticulture and working as a landscape designer and contractor for the past 20 years. In 2012, she received her Master’s Degree in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design from the Conway School in Northampton, MA. She moved to Maine in 2013 and opened Larkspur Design, an ecological landscape design firm based in Portland. Designing and installing gardens combines all of her favorite things—creating beautiful spaces for humans to enjoy while enhancing the ecological health of local ecosystems. She envisions that each garden that her team designs will become part of a growing network of habitat gardens which will weave its way through Southern Maine and beyond, providing food, cover, and connectivity for the insects, birds, and animals of New England.
Owen Wormser: Incorporating Meadows into the Landscape
Most yards in the United States are biological deserts and an ecological burden due to too much lawn coupled with an overuse of non-native species. Lawns alone cover tens of millions of acres in the U.S. and have a massive detrimental impact on the ecology of the planet. Meadows offer the opposite ecological effect of lawns. Meadows are ecological assets that provide myriad benefits—including ongoing sequestering of carbon and increased biological diversity. Meadows are also beautiful, long lasting, and low-maintenance. Landscape designer and author Owen Wormser will talk about a range of different design, site preparation, and maintenance approaches, and discuss how to choose the right ones based on your resources and landscape conditions.
Owen Wormser was born and raised off the grid in central Maine, surrounded by the presence of the natural world. That connection inspired Owen to pursue a career working with plants and design. In 1998, Owen Wormser founded his first landscape design/build company with a focus on creating sustainable, beautiful, low-maintenance landscapes. Based in Western Massachusetts, he has designed and built hundreds of landscapes influenced by his ongoing study of horticulture, permaculture, organic agriculture, and ecology. His first book, Lawns Into Meadows, Growing a Regenerative Landscape, was released in 2020. A revised second edition of Lawns Into Meadows was released in the fall of 2022.
Shawn Jalbert: Honey Bees: Not so Sweet for our Native Pollinators?
There is an accumulating body of evidence to suggest that domesticated honey bees are adversely impacting our native bees. It shouldn’t be shocking; whenever non-native species are introduced unforeseen consequences will surface. Sean will talk about our native bee species and what we can do to help. Come hear what all the buzz is about!
Shawn believes everybody and everything deserves to have a voice and be recognized. Shawn has advocated for native plants and all the organisms that rely on them for decades. He started Native Haunts Plant Nursery and Consulting in Alfred, Maine, more than twenty years ago to increase the accessibility of native plants to homeowners and the public in general. Shawn gives many presentations and classes each year on native plant ecology and propagation to environmental organizations, garden clubs, and institutions. The long-time Steward of the Harvey Butler Rhododendron Sanctuary in Springvale, Shawn is also a current board member of the Three Rivers Land Trust.
Ryan Corrigan: Rain Gardens that work: Choosing plant communities that will thrive and engage communities in Stewardship
Ryan will run through various Green Infrastructure sites from municipal bioswales, to homeowner rain gardens, to constructed wetlands. The focus will be simple techniques you can use to get the soil right and provide plant palettes that work well in these challenging environments.
Ryan Corrigan, MSc, is the Director of Ecological Services for the Boston Metro Area. Ryan has been with Parterre’s Ecological Team since 2018 and brings a background in Ecological Design and on-the-ground restoration expertise, having helped grow Parterre’s Eco team and capacity for taking on challenging projects. As a crew leader he led the stewardship of Alewife Constructed Wetland to establishment and today leads Parterre’s Green Infrastructure team in Boston, Worcester, and surrounding cities. He is passionate about connecting communities with rain gardens and works to develop public/private partnerships that engage volunteers, allow municipalities to do more with less, and build the green industry workforce we need to battle climate change. He has a degree in Ecological Design from the Conway School, is a Certified Ecological Restoration Professional (CERP), National Green Infrastructure Certified Practitioner (NGICP), Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist (MCH).
