Annual Native Plant Sale will have plants and information

You can find out exactly what a native plant is and how to grow it at the Montreat Landcare Committee’s Native Plant Sale and Arbor Day Celebration on Saturday, April 30 from in Moore Center Field in Montreat. Direction signs will mark the route to the site. The event will be held 9 a.m.-2 p.m. rain or shine.

“What started out with three or four vendors is now an annual native plant sale and is rapidly becoming a mini festival,” Bill Seaman from the Montreat Landcare Committee said. “There will be more than half dozen half-hour seminars and demonstrations throughout the morning and early afternoon. Educating the public is an important mission of the Montreat Landcare Committee.”

Plant lovers have an opportunity to not only select native plants for their property, but also learn how to grow them as well. Several local garden and landscape vendors, experts and master gardeners will hold workshops and demonstrations. Some of the vendors participating include Appalachian Creek Nursery and Landscape, MellieMac’s Garden Shack, Ten Thousand Villages, April Carder In-Site Out Designs, Landscape Solutions, North Carolina Forest Service, Extension Master Gardener (NC Cooperative Extension), and High Country Nursery.

Linda Hopson, one the sale’s organizers, said that there will be a food truck on site and plenty of muscle power to carry plants to cars. The Bounty & Soul produce truck will also be on site. Ten Thousands Villages is donating a portion of its proceeds from the sale to Bounty & Soul.

“Since we will be celebrating Arbor Day with free trees from the Arbor Day Foundation, each recipient of a tree has to stay and learn how to take care of their free tree,” Hopson said.

“Montreat is now an official Tree City recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation,” Seaman said. “This year visitors to the native plant sale can learn about tree planting and pruning, Hemlock restoration in Montreat and Western North Carolina, and Forests of the Southern Appalachia. There will be a lot of free information and literature to take home.”

The Montreat Landcare Committee is made up of eight organizations working together to care for the land and its natural resources. The organizations and groups that comprise the committee include Montreat Conference Center, Montreat College, Town of Montreat, MRA Wilderness Committee, The Cottagers Wilderness and Open Space Committee, The Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, Montreat Trail Club and Montreat Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) Earth Ministry Team.

For more, contact Hopson at 357-8128 or (704) 898-1898.