Calvin To Hold Native Plant Sale

May 2, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

The Bunker Interpretive Center at Calvin College will hold a native plant sale from 10 am to noon on Saturday, May 6.

The sale, featuring species indigenous to Michigan, will benefit the center's "Wetland and Woodland" summer camps.

"We also want to increase the presence of native plants in people's gardens," says Calvin biology professor Dave Warners, one of the sale's organizers.

The plants, all local genotypes, will be priced at half of what they fetch when sold by native plant dealers. A six to 10 inch pot size will sell for $2*$3 each, while a four-celled tray will cost $2.50.

All of the plants featured in the sale were germinated from seed collected from natural areas in West Michigan ("with proper permission," Warners adds, laughing) and raised in greenhouses in the Ecosystem Preserve at Calvin.

Wild Columbine, two species of Black-eyed Susans, four species of milkweed, Joe Pye Weed, four species of goldenrod, Canada anemone, big-leaf aster, wild strawberry, native prairie grasses, sunflower and silphium are some of the species that will be available at Saturday's sale.

Warners is a big fan of native plants and quick to praise their many benefits for gardeners, one of which is their hardiness. Another benefit, he says, is that they support native pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. He notes too that native plants get more and more scarce as development overtakes natural areas, and the gene pool for the native plants gets smaller and smaller. Not the least of the benefits of native plants, he adds, is their historical authenticity.

"They connect us to our natural heritage of Michigan. They are the plants grew here before we were here."

Contact Warners at 616-526-6820 or dwarners@calvin.edu
For the full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2005_06/native_plants.htm

-end-
Received on Tue May 2 09:36:08 2006