Great Swamp Watershed Association
Native Plants for Pollinators Sale Site is OPEN!!
GSWA Plant Sale Landing Page
Gardening for Pollinators Recording Coming Soon from GSWA
Gardening for Pollinators- Plant it, They will Come
Thurs April 1, 12:00 - 12:45 PM including 15 min. for Q&A
If you plant it, they will come. Imagine relaxing in your yard, watching the butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, and other beautiful pollinators and wildlife frolicking in your pollinator garden. It's easier than you may think. Learn the appropriate native plants you will need to attract pollinators and why this type of garden benefits your yard, your neighborhood, and our shared watershed. This webinar was recorded for later viewing.RegisteTr
GSWA Native Plants for Pollinators Sale April 1-22
The Great Swamp Watershed Association Native Plant Sale provides a full selection of attractively priced native perennials and simple guidance for planting delightfully alive pollinator gardens that will thrive with minimal care. The sale is operated with the promotion and volunteers from Community Plant Sale Partners that include ten towns and seven community organizations. Our joint goal is to foster broad adoption of native plant gardens across our area to create necessary habitat for the pollinator insects and bird communities that are foundation elements of our local ecosystem-- pooling our private yards to create what the popular lecturer and entomologist Doug Tallamy describes as a homegrown national park.
We offer eighteen native plants selected for both their garden performance and pollinator services. Our source nurseries provide plant stock specifically for our local eco-region so that they will bloom at the right time to service emerging pollinators. These are outstanding pollinator-attracting selections for anywhere from containers on a balcony to garden areas in a yard to supplementing a large meadow or a woodland edge. All of the selected species are considered deer resistant (no species is deer-proof).
The Great Swamp Watershed Association Native Plant Sale online storefront at https://www.greatswamp.org/native-plant-sale/ will be open for orders April 1-22 2021, with order pickups on May1 or May 2 depending on your town.
Important: Quantities are Limited.
Please order early before your selection is sold out!
The plants are all landscape plugs. Landscape plugs are extra large to provide mature plants robust enough to plant directly into the landscape, an efficient alternative to container plants. This size plug is 2” x 2” across and 5” deep. The roots are substantial.
Photo from Northcreek Nursery Landscape Plug Manual
We offer a small garden kit (16 plugs for $40), a large garden kit (32 plugs for $80), and eighteen individual species as 4 plug modules ($12).
Kits are our most economical offer, $2.50 per plug vs $3.00 per plug for individual plant species.
See the Frequently Asked Questions page for a 2020 photo history of Landscape Plug pollinator garden that was lawn in April and planted in June.
Small and Large Pollinator Garden Kits
A garden design is provided for each kit. The two designs are from different landscape designers. Each is easily adapted to make them more curvilinear and/or to shift the aspect ratio to make them deeper and skinnier or shallower and wider. Be creative and add on! More plugs and more species can be added to a kit by purchasing individual species 4 plug modules.
The kit species selections will bloom from spring through fall year after year-- critical to feed the pollinators and gorgeous for the viewers.
Plant choices were also guided by the need to host a broad diversity of insects and birds, including our threatened Monarch Butterflies.
Both plant kits need Sun to Part Sun (6+ hours of sun per day to 4-6 hours of sun per day with some of it in the afternoon) and moist soil (in our area they should not need any supplementary water after they are established).
Four Species Small Kit
This 16 plug kit is accompanied by a 7 ft by 5.5 ft design.The kit contains 4 species of 4 plugs each.
The price is $40.
Spring
Eastern Bluestar (left)
Foxglove Beardtongue (right)
Summer
Swamp Milkweed
Host plant for Monarch Butterflies from their arrival in spring through their departure in the fall
Fall
New York Aster
Small Kit Design Suggestion
To help you plan, download a Small Garden Kit Owner's Manual here:
GSWA Small Garden Kit.pdfSeven Species Large Kit
This 32 plug kit is accompanied by a 12 ft x 6.5 ft design. The kit contains 6 species of 4 plugs each for an upper layer and 1 species with 8 plugs for a groundcover.
The price is $80.
Spring
Golden Ragwort (groundcover, 8 plugs)
Wild Blue Indigo
Summer
Swamp Milkweed
Anise Hyssop
Virginia Mountain Mint
Fall
Showy Goldenrod
Smooth Blue Aster
Large Kit Design Suggestion
To help you plan, download a Large Garden Kit Owner's Manual here:
GSWA Large Garden Kit.pdfIndividual Species 4 Plug Modules
Eighteen individual species (including the same species in the kits) are available in 4 plug modules.
The price of each module is $12, regardless of the species.
The species are presented below in the sequence of their bloom periods, from March through October. Pollinators need continuous access to nectar and pollen.
Sun and moisture requirements are also provided, as well as height.
Basic Light Level Definitions
Full sun- 6 or more hours of direct sun per day
Part sun- 4-6 hours of direct sun per day, including some afternoon sun
Part shade- 4-6 hours of direct sun per day, including some morning sun
Shade- less than 4 hours of direct sun per day
Apr-May: Golden Ragwort
Sun to Part Shade
Moist to Wet
6” when not blooming, 2' blooms
Lush, low green ground cover sends up many thin 2 ft. high stems topped with yellow, daisy-like, 1” flowers in March and April. Mass plantings look like a floating sea of yellow. After blooming, the semi-evergreen basal foliage is an alternative ground cover to non-native pachysandra, vinca or ivy. Flowers are important to early pollinators.
Apr-May-Jun: Eastern Bluestar
Sun to Part Sun
Dry to Moist
1-3’
Profuse clusters of blue, star-shaped flowers on 1-3 ft. clumps of upright stems in early spring. Narrow, oval feathery leaves turn golden-yellow in the fall. Good butterfly nectar and early pollinator food supply.
Ap-M-Jn Foxglove Beardtounge
Sun to Part Shade
Dry to Moist
3-4’
Tubular white flowers on elegant 3-4 ft. stalks from April to June. Important to bees. Low basal rosette when not in bloom.
Apr-May-Jun: Heartleaf Foamflower
Part Shade to Shade
Moist
1’
Tiny, pink buds, open into delicate foot tall clusters of white flowers in late spring. This plant spreads to form colonies and works well as a ground cover in shade. Good early nectar source for pollinators.
May-Jun: Wild Blue Indigo
Sun to Part Sun
Moist
3-5’
Lupine-like, plumes of purple flowers, bloom May-June on 3-5 ft. tall, bushy plants. Although initially slow to establish and worthy of your patience, they host multiple butterfly caterpillars and serve pollinators well. Interesting dry seed pods and stems can be used in dry arrangements.
May-Jun-Jul: Swamp Milkweed
Sun to Part Sun
Moist to Wet
3-4’
Fragrant pink blooms May to July. Large, interesting seed pods. Up to 4 ft. tall. Beloved Monarch nectar and larval food source. Caterpillars may defoliate but the plant will rebound to feed more caterpillars!
Jun-Jul: Rattlesnake Master
Sun to Part Sun
Dry to Moist
3-5’
Unique white, golf ball sized, globular flowers cluster on the branch ends of this 3-5 ft. tall plant. Mid-summer blooms last about a month but they are attractive before and after bloom, providing visual interest from early summer into fall with yucca like leaves. High value to pollinators and important larval food plant.
Jul-Aug: Dense Blazing Star
Sun to Part Sun
Moist to Wet
2-4’
Spikes of tufty, fluffy, purple flowers on rigid stalks 2-4 ft. tall, blooms from July into August. Dense Blazing Star is a valuable nectar source for native bees and butterflies. Plant in masses or as vertical accents.
Jul-Aug-Sep: Anise Hyssop
Sun to Part Shade
Moist
2-4’
Long blooming lavender-bluish flower spikes begin in mid-summer and persist as beautiful seed heads into winter. 2-4 ft. tall plants are excellent for pollinators and finches eat winter seeds.
Jul-Aug-Sep: Virginia Mountain Mint
Sun to Part Shade
Moist
2-3’
Tiny white flower clusters are long lasting mid to late summer. They positively vibrate with pollinator activity. Superstar plants for nectar and pollen. 2-3 ft. tall plants spread by rhizomes but are far less aggressive than the non-native mints. Leaves for mint tea as well!
Jul-Aug-Sep: Purple Coneflower
Sun
Dry to Moist
2-4’
Long-lasting, pinkish-lavender robust flowers bloom on 2-4 ft. stems, summer to early fall. A garden classic that is an excellent source of pollen and nectar for pollinators and seeds for Goldfinches. Prefers sun, dry to moist soil.
Jul-Aug-Sep: Joe Pye Weed
Sun to Part Shade
Moist
4-6’
Huge, rounded flower heads with pale pink-purple, fragrant flowers bloom atop 5-6 ft. tall plants July till September. Flowers are followed by attractive seed heads, which persist well into winter. Many species of butterflies visit Joe Pye, and it is of special value for native bees. It hosts over 40 species of caterpillars.
Jul-Aug-Sep: Culver's Root
Sun to Part Shade
Moist
2-4’
Dramatic, candelabra looking spikes of white to pinkish blooms open from the top down on 5 ft. tall plants in mid-summer. Slow to establish, they will not reach full height until the second year. Wonderful pollinator plant and striking vertical accent in the garden.
Jul-Aug-Sep: Cardinal Flower
Sun to Part Shade
Moist to Wet
2-5’
Showy, scarlet-red spikes of flowers, 2-5 ft. tall bloom July through September. A late-summer nectar source used especially by hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Short lived perennial but will repopulate if seed meets slightly disturbed soil.
Jul-Aug-Sep: White Turtle Head
Part Sun to Part Shade
Moist to Wet
2-3’
Tight clusters of white tubular, 2-lipped flowers resembling turtle heads bloom 2-3 ft. high. Larval host of the Baltimore Checkerspot. Attracts butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds.
Aug-Sep-Oct: Smooth Blue Aster
Sun to Part Sun
Moist
3 ’
Billowing panicles of blue-violet blooms with yellow centers open on 3 ft. tall plants in late summer and fall. Important to late season pollinators, hosting over 100 species of butterflies. Sun to part shade, average to moist soil.
Aug-Sep-Oct: Showy Goldenrod
Sun to Part Sun
Dry to Moist
3-4’
Spectacular, unbranched 3-4 ft. stems topped with large pyramidal golden-yellow flower plumes from late summer until fall. Important to a variety of late season pollinators, hosting over 100 species of Lepidoptera. Pollen is not windborne and so does not contribute to hay fever or allergies. Sun to part sun, dry to moist soil.
Aug-Sep-Oct: New York Aster
Sun to Part Sun
Moist to Wet
3-5’
Prolific 1½“ blue-violet blooms on 3-5 ft. tall branching stems from late summer till frost. Pinch back in June to keep shorter. Host for over 100 butterfly species, pollinator magnet.
About this Site
This site is maintained by volunteer friends of the GSWA Native Plant Sale who are members of GSWA Native Plant Sale Community Partner organizations.
Please email us to inquire about volunteering or with questions not answered here
GSWAplantsale@gmail.com