The Meramec Hills Chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalists is partnering with the Phelps County Master Gardeners to offer a plant sale at the Rolla Downtown Farmers Market located at 901 N. Elm Street 8 a.m. until noon May 11.
Meramec Hills Chapter members will have perennial native plants from wildflowers to shrubs available for purchase along with educational materials while the Phelps County Master Gardeners will have ornamental annuals and perennials along with vegetable starts just before Mother’s Day. Live native plants or garden starts are a great way to honor the special mother’s in our lives.
With the plight of pollinators, from honey bees to Monarch butterflies, in the news, adding native plants to your landscape can not only help pollinators in the larger ecosystem but it can have great benefits in your yard as well. Flowering plants can attract more pollinators and lead to greater success in the vegetable garden, more fruit on bushes and trees as well as greater diversity.
For those interested in learning more ahead of the plant sale, the University of Missouri Extension website has many resources available at http://outreach.missouri.edu/. Landscape design plans using natives and information on beneficial alternatives to harmful ornamental plants can be found at http://grownative.org/.
Native plants available for sale come from the George O. White State Nursery, Prairie Hill Farms, Doolittle Gardens and members own gardens. Paradoxa Chapter of the Missouri Native Plant Society, as well as Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners, will be assisting customers with plant identification and selection.
The Missouri Master Naturalists chapters, sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the University of Missouri Extension, are volunteer groups focused on engaging Missourians in the stewardship of our state's natural resources through science-based education and community service while the Missouri Master Gardener chapters, also sponsored by University of Missouri Extension, engage those in their community to promote gardening and environmental education.
For more information, you can visit the website: http://www.meramechills.org/ or find the Phelps County Master Gardeners or the Meramec Hills Chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalists on Facebook.
