The Native Plants Festival in June, which kicked off our 2023 season, was a fabulous success, with more than 800 people in attendance despite the weather, and nearly all of our plants sold. But it was just the beginning of our native plant selling season. And what a season it was!
Here are the highlights:
Number of plants sold
5,500 Herbaceous Plants
2,200 Woody Plants
Top 10 Herbaceous Perennials
Pennsylvania Sedge
Wild Strawberry
Swamp Milkweed
New England Aster
Butterfly Weed
Great Blue Lobelia
Cardinal Flower
Wild Bergamot
Cutleaf Coneflower
Virginia Mountain Mint
Top 10 Woody Plants:
Lowbush Blueberry
Highbush Blueberry
Sheep Laurel
Virginia Rose
Elderberry
Beach Plum
Huckleberry
Winterberry Holly
Bearberry
Sweet Pepperbush
Where are our customers from?
More than 650 customers purchased plants in 2023 coming from 220 different towns across Maine!
What else?
The Bringing Nature Home program is more than selling plants; it also includes work in communities around the state. This summer, we took part in the 100 Resilient Yards project in South Portland helping more than 100 people plant native plants in their yards; planted trees to create an urban oasis in Lewiston; did restoration work in Guilford and other towns, and provided plants for the Great Meadow Restoration at Acadia National Park.
What’s Next?
We’ll be back next year with more plants than ever! Stay tuned for news about next year’s Festival & “Bringing Nature Home” programs. In the meantime, be sure to check out our fall programs. At Gilsland Farm, we’ve got plant walks, edible plant walks, and a seed saving walk done in partnership with Wild Seed Project. We’ve got seed saving walks at four of our other sanctuaries as well. This winter, look for our popular seed sowing workshops. And in January, we’ll be co-hosting a special presentation by Doug Tallamy!
In reflecting on the success of this season I want to revisit why we decided to sell native plants at Maine Audubon in the first place. Our “Bringing Nature Home” program was founded with the mission of supporting and restoring Maine’s biodiversity, ultimately creating better and more resilient habitats for wildlife. We are part of a growing movement of partner organizations and enthusiastic individuals across the state, and the country, who are devoted to shifting our relationship with the natural world and better understanding the importance of native plants to our ecosystem. As such, we recognize that this movement is itself an ecosystem, inherently intertwined with and reliant on strong relationships.
We want to sincerely thank all of our partners and volunteers who continue to be vital in supporting our mission of restoring Maine’s biodiversity.
We want to express our gratitude to the following partners:
City of Portland
City of South Portland
City of Lewiston
City of Bangor
Schoodic Institute
National Park Service , Acadia National Park
Maine Community Integration
Bissell Brothers
Wild Seed Project
Thank you!
