Native plants are focus of June 3 sale
Native plants, like this milkweed, are beneficial to the native pollinators with which they co-evolved.
This spring, a sale of native plants for your backyard will take place practically in your own backyard.
On Saturday, June 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Heights residents can venture just a short distance to purchase plants at a sale that will bring four far-flung nurseries to Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, 3031 Monticello Blvd., Cleveland Heights.
The sale is presented by the Friends of Heights Parks and its popular sidekick, the Heights Native Pollinator Path (HNPP). HNPP is an effort to link native habitat, literally providing a path of native species from yard to yard in Cleveland Heights and surrounding residential neighborhoods.
Public parks and private land are inextricably linked ecologically because plants don't stay in one place. Just as unwanted plants sneak into your yard from next door, parks are invaded by horticultural specimens that outcompete native plants, interrupting a complex interaction among native species that co-evolved—plants, insects, and birds—that is beneficial to all partners. Residents are encouraged to join a global movement to replace non-native species with native ones to build a beneficial, beautiful, and resilient landscape.
Native species are hard to find at garden centers, and should never be collected from natural areas. That is why this sale is so special.
The vendors at this sale, who have grown the plants they are selling, are an invaluable resource. They encourage residents to plant for the planet.
Amy Goletz of Avonlea Gardens in Chardon is a master gardener and naturalist with decades of gardening experience. Julie Slater of Meadow City Nursey in Collinwood has collected and propagated local ecotypes, growing her interest from a master’s degree in ecological restoration into a business. Jennifer Johnson of Native Roots in Richfield left engineering to pursue a Master of Science in environmental science. And soon-to-be-retired Joe Kriss of The Shady Nook in Madison has been providing garden centers with plants for many moons.
For more information, visit http://cuts2.com/TAcvt, or send an e-mail to friendsofheightsparks@gmail.com.
John Barber
John Barber is co-chair of Friends of Lower Lake, and co-founder of Friends of Heights Parks. He serves as a Honorary Life Trustee of the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.