When Cindy Kindle started our native plant sale in 2002, she wanted to help people make a difference for wildlife in their own backyard.
Native plant species are essential for local wildlife and have been part of our region’s ecosystem for thousands of years. Yet, most nurseries don’t stock many, if any, native species. So Cindy, an avid birder, gardener, and early Land Trust staff member, germinated wildflower seeds in her basement and asked other gardeners to share their native plants.
Our first sale at Brighton Town Hall was an immediate success, and now the annual fundraiser is part of the larger native plant movement and helps many gardeners add them affordably.
In 2008, David Ryder decided to turn the strip of land along his driveway into a native garden and got most of the plants from our sale. At the time, many of his friends and neighbors were skeptical.
“They would tell me — ‘Those are weeds! I want them out of my yard. You can have them all!’” David says. “But there are so many ‘weeds’ that grow into wonderful gardens. And at the sale I met the Land Trust, which inspired me to get more involved in local conservation.”
David started volunteering to help with the sale, and a decade after planting his first native garden he turned his 0.3-acre backyard into Redmont Nursery.
““Some of my neighbors might still call them weeds, but every summer I see monarchs on the milkweed and hear birds in the red oak trees and know native gardens are really making a difference.””
Today, more and more local gardeners — and many towns — are adding native plants to their land.
“Whenever I deliver native plants to a new place, I’m thrilled to know a little more land’s going to feed our wildlife,” says David, who’s also become a Land Trust board member. “Some of my neighbors might still call them weeds, but every summer I see monarchs on the milkweed and hear birds in the red oak trees and know native gardens are really making a difference.”
Have native plants in your garden? Consider dividing some and donating them to the sale! For more info, contact Larissa Lalka at llalka@geneseelandtrust.org or (585) 256-2130.
Plant photos from left:
Giant Swallowtail on joe-pye weed by Lori Coleman, cardinal flower, Monarch butterfly on New England aster, butterfly weed.