Spring is approaching and it’s time to refresh your outdoor spaces. We recommend creating Pollinator & Habitat Gardens with native plants. You and your family will be helping the environment and also have a beautiful space to enjoy butterflies and a variety of birds. If you don’t want to spend time creating and skip right to enjoyment let us help you! We can advise you on what plants will work in your space. Our crew can do the hard work for you. Maybe you’d like a stone patio or beds for a vegetable garden. From solely decorative to purposeful, we can create it.
It’s almost here! The online sale will be Thursday, April 14, 2022 – Thursday, April 21, 2022, 8:00 am – 8:00 pm Central. Please go to the link for additional information. We’ll be selling plants along with other vendors. Get ready for our pollinators and birds! Nectar plants, host plants, and habitat plants for wildlife will be available. https://ar.audubon.org/events/2022-spring-native-plant-sale
It’s time for planting, transplanting, and dividing your perennials & woody shrubs. Summer in Arkansas can be harsh with high temperatures & drought periods. By planting in the fall your plants still have many 60 degree days where root development can happen.
Let’s talk about dividing some of your large perennials to make new plantings. If you have a showy, focal point that you want to divide consider the wedge method. Instead of digging the root ball up and cutting it apart, consider using a sharpshooter shovel to cut out a wedge (maybe 1/4 of the crown?). The mother plant is disturbed much less and still puts on a show for you. The following year you can cut out a different wedge and work yourself around the plant without making too much difference.
Now is the time to plant spring-blooming bulbs. There are Arkansas native bulbs like Camassia scilloides (Wild Hyacinth) and Camassia angusta (Prairie Wild Hyacinth). But non-native bulbs are also much loved as harbingers of Spring and should be planted in fall. Who doesn’t love seeing the first crocus or narcissus blooms peeking out? Many times we’re asked how to incorporate these bulbs in native landscapes. We recommend taking a handful of bulbs and pitching them. Plant them where they fall and you’ll have a lovely drift of blooms.
Native seed heads provide nutrition for birds & critters. Instead of dead-heading & and cutting stalks think about leaving them. Audubon Society of Central Arkansas has a great page that talks about this topic. See the link below https://wp.ascabird.org/birding/feeding-birds/planting-for-birds/
If you’re looking for new native plants that put on a show for fall, here are some of our favorites:
Amsonia hubrictii (bright golden-orange foliage), Aronia melanocarpa (bright red foliage & blackberries for birds), Callicarpa americana (purple berries are most common but there are some white and pink berried ones). There are so many choices it’s hard to stop!
If you need some help knowing how best to create a sanctuary in your yard, contact us. Get your hands dirty and enjoy the Fall!
Plant of the Month – Aronia melanocarpa ‘Low Scape Mound’. Fall color, berries & bloom.
Thanks to everyone who purchased plants during the Audubon Arkansas Fall Online Native Plant Sale. There were great offerings from all the vendors & we appreciate the hard work by all those folks at Audubon Arkansas who made it happen.
This year Audubon Arkansas will host the 2021 Fall Native Plant Sale online with curbside pick up. The sale will open on September 1 and run through September 8. We have some fun new items in store for you this year! Shop early before all the vendors sell out. For more information please see the post on their web page at the link below.
It’s almost here! Support local pollinators & our food supply. Audubon Arkansas is having their native plant sale online. Thanks, Audubon Arkansas, for facilitating this event in a safe manner & for your support of local businesses! For more info, https://www.facebook.com/events/3755371547903923
The weather is becoming pleasant and we all want to get into our outdoor spaces. Audubon is just in time with its fall native plant sale. As with the spring sale, there will be an online store that will be open from September 17th through October 1st. You will be able to make a purchase using your credit or debit card. Audubon will schedule your pickup with you. Please watch the Audubon Arkansas website for updates!
Many thanks to Audubon Arkansas who found a way to have the Spring Native Plant Sale – an online version. These folks set up an online sale site for multiple Arkansas vendors. Their staff facilitated by using their staff for curbside pick-up of the orders. If you haven’t already, please explore the programs & donate to this important non-profit for their work in our community!
Many of us are finding some calm in working in our green spaces. This is a great time to add native plants to your landscape to support pollinators and wildlife. Audubon Arkansas has worked out a way to have a safe Native plant sale! We are excited to be able to offer some of our favorite native plants to you. Some quantities are limited, so I encourage you to order early. There are also several other great vendors offering more plants. When you go to the site (link below) you’ll find an easy way to order online the plants you want & schedule a curbside pick-up time.
Covid-19 has hit all of us, but it is especially hard on nonprofits. Arkansas is fortunate to have access to the great programs offered by Audubon Arkansas & their wonderful staff. You will see some buttons at the sale site to make a donation to Audubon Arkansas. I encourage you to donate to help them continue to provide the programs and services that are important to our community!
Spring is the time for the Monarch migration we are fortunate to live in one of the paths of their migration. So go outside, look for them, notice what plants in your yard attract them. Make a conscious decision to make pollinator-friendly plants part of your landscape. The leaves may get consumed by caterpillars, so they may be a little ragged. Still, we need to celebrate these nectar/larval food sources. Our winged friends will thank you! There’s a great site below giving info about the Monarch migration in Arkansas.
