Having just had Mother’s Day weekend, planting season has officially started for us. While you may head out to look for tomato plants for your vegetable garden or annuals for your pots, consider adding native plantings to your landscape. Native plants are tougher than many of the plants that we baby in our gardens. They have evolved to live here, so are used to the precipitation levels and the temperature fluctuations that are part of living in Connecticut. They can generally go without fertilizers and pesticides. They offer food and shelter to our native insect and animal populations, and they generally do not run amok.
If you walk in the front doors of The Market, you will see Long-beaked Sedge plants on the right side of the path. These natives provide shelter for small animals, and birds will eat the seeds that are now appearing. Walking down the accessibility ramp you will see Purple Love Grass along the switchback. That grass is a host for the Zabulon Skipper butterfly. Taking a walk on the wetland paths, you may see Yellow Trout Lilies in bloom in early spring and Wood Anemones a bit later, both good sources of pollen for early season insects. As you get closer to the wetlands, there are a lot of skunk cabbage, another native and the first wildflower to appear in late winter. More native plants will be installed on the campus in the future.
If you are looking to add native plants to your gardens, Earth Tones in Woodbury, and Tiny Meadow Farm in Danbury are nurseries that carry only New England natives. Be sure to check their websites for hours and directions. There are also numerous native plant sites online, just be sure to check that the plants you are selecting are native to Connecticut. Prairie Moon Nursery is a good place to look, as they offer range maps down to the county for each plant. Many of the local garden clubs have plant sales during the growing season, and they often have a section dedicated to native plants.
Happy gardening!
