The 2021 Native Plants Sale is officially underway! We’ve started taking orders at shop.mainenativeplants.org, and contactless curbside pick-ups begin this Thursday and Friday. We will run our sales and pick-ups at Gilsland Farm through September, and we will be making new plants available throughout the growing season.
A couple of quick reminders and updates to help your shopping:
- Don’t forget to schedule a pick-up appointment. After you shop and checkout, you’ll be prompted to schedule an appointment to pick up your plants. You must schedule an appointment to get your plants.
- New species for 2021 include Pussytoes, Silverod, and White Heath Aster that are all coming along nicely in our hoop house. We are also very excited to add new woodies species including Rhodora, Yellow Birch, Sweetgale, and Swamp White Oak.
- Inventory updates: we are repotting and sourcing plants all summer these days, so this means we’ll be adding new plants to the website for sale all the time. Check the website periodically throughout the season or tell us what you are looking for. September is actually our favorite month to plant, and most of our plants will be happy and easy to care for in pots until then.
- Grown from seed by Maine Audubon! Maine Audubon now grows many species from seed, so you know that your plants have been sustainably sourced, propagated naturally, and grown organically. Look for the seed-grown items and labels.
- How do we decide what is native? Maine Audubon primarily promotes and grows Maine native plants, those listed as native to most counties statewide as per the Biota of North America Program (BONAP). BONAP is also the source for GoBotany and the USDA PLANTS database. While we acknowledge benefits of species such as our climate resiliency species, we do not characterize them as Maine native plants.
- Climate resiliency species: Maine Audubon also acknowledges and promotes species of plants with ranges appearing to shift into Maine and/or with which insects and other animals have already started adapting. Species such as Scarlet Beebalm and Purple Coneflower are both stunning and beneficial in Maine gardens. We will grow and sell a short list of straight species adapted to Maine’s changing climate.
- Our tree and shrub sizes: Maine Audubon sells trees and shrubs that are small, often 3 to 4 years old, and in one-gallon pots. Small, young plants like these handle transplanting more easily and grow much faster. They are also much more inexpensive, easy to care for, and less demanding of resources.
- Any questions or feedback? We’re happy to hear from you, to help you find other Maine native plants, or answer any questions about our plants. Email plants@maineaudubon.org
