Clinton Master Gardeners Taking Orders For Native Plants

 

The order form includes detailed descriptions of the native plants available as well as ordering instructions.

 

 

Native plants play an important role in sustaining wildlife, especially pollinating insects, which face threats from land development, pesticides, loss of habitat, and diseases. They are sometimes difficult to find in local greenhouses and garden centers and the Clinton County Master Gardeners want to make it easier to obtain the plants that will help sustain bees, butterflies, moths, and other pollinators, beneficial insects and wildlife.

 

The risks to pollinators are of particular concern, because many of the crops humans depend upon for food require pollination. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “Pollinators are responsible for assisting over 80% of the world's flowering plants. Without them, humans and wildlife wouldn't have much to eat or look at!”

 

Pollinators have been hurt by the loss of the places where they have always made their homes. They thrived in forests and fields where milkweed and other wildflowers and plants once grew, but those places have been turned into backyards, parking lots, and plowed fields. Pollinators are at risk because the plants on which they feed are disappearing. The widespread use of herbicides has eliminated many of the native plants on which they feed and raise their young.

 

Native plants are essential sources of food for many pollinators because of the nectar they provide. The leaves of native plants serve as sources of food for insect larvae, and some insects are dependent upon the availability of specific plants. One such case is the monarch butterfly, which lays its eggs only on Milkweed. When those eggs hatch, the butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, then feed on the milkweed leaves. The larvae cannot feed on any other plant, so milkweed is essential to their survival. Areas without milkweed become areas without monarchs. Simply put, monarch butterflies need milkweed plants to survive. Areas without milkweed become areas without monarchs. Home gardeners can help monarchs and other pollinators by adding varieties of milkweed and other native plants to their yards.

 

Another threat to pollinators is the use of pesticides, both for commercial purposes as well as in our own homes and yards. In addition to killing bees outright, there is evidence that pesticides can harm those bees that do survive. According to Penn State Horticulture Program Assistant Alexandru Surcica, “The sub-lethal effect of pesticides may impair bees’ ability to learn, navigate, and defend themselves from pathogens”. One class of pesticides, called neonicontinoids, has been linked to the decline of pollinators. It is a pesticide sometimes used by growers who supply plants to greenhouses and garden centers, and concern has been raised that these treated plants may then pose a risk to pollinators and other insects when they are transplanted into backyard gardens. To address that concern, the Clinton County Master Gardeners ordered the native plants included in their sale from a grower that uses neonicotinoid-free growing practices.

 

The Clinton County Master Gardeners are encouraging local residents who want to help pollinators to consider having their gardens certified as “Pollinator Friendly Gardens”. A pollinator friendly garden provides the food, water, shelter and pesticide-free environment necessary to protect pollinators. Master Gardeners can help individuals review the pollinator friendly garden certification application and select plants that will meet both homeowners' and pollinators’ needs. All of the plants offered through the Clinton County Master Gardener plant sale are included on the list of pollinator friendly plants on the certification application.

 

This year’s offerings include include two types of milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, or swamp milkweed, and Asclepias tuberosa, or butterfly weed. Both serve as host plants for butterfly larvae. Swamp milkweed has pinkish purple flowers and butterfly weed has orange/yellow flowers. In red shades, Lobelia Cardinalis (cardinal flower) and Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine), a shade lover with delicate red and yellow blooms, are available. White flowered selections include Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's root), Penstemon digitalis (beardtongue), and Eupatorium hyssopifolium (thoroughwort). In yellow, there is Zizia aurea (golden zizia) and Solidago rugosa (fireworks goldenrod). For those who enjoy shades of blue and purple, Agastache foeniculum, (anise hyssop), Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox), Liatris spicata (blazing star), Eupatorium coelestinum (blue mistflower), Aster laevis (smooth blue aster) and Aster novae-angliae (New England aster) are available.

 

The sale includes plants that bloom at various times throughout the season to provide constant sources of food for pollinators and beauty in home landscapes. To help pollinators, it’s important to have continuous bloom from spring through fall and to plant groups of the same plant, not just one of each. The Master Gardeners recommend planting in clumps or drifts made up of several plants of the same variety.

 

The cost per plant is $3.00. Plants are sold in plug form, with approximately 4 inches of root growth.

 

In addition to helping pollinators, native plants can be part of a move toward more environmentally friendly gardening. Native plants tend to require less supplemental watering and fertilizer, and may have better pest and disease resistance than non-natives.

 

Those unable to download the order form may obtain one by calling the Clinton County Master Gardener hotline at 570-726-0022, extension 3826 and leaving a call-back message. A Master Gardener will return the call and send out an order form. Through the hotline number, Master Gardeners are available to answer questions about incorporating native plants into backyards and landscapes. They can also help gardeners and homeowners with strategies for meeting other pollinator needs such water, shelter, and safe habitat and provide information on environmentally friendly approaches to gardening and landscaping.