by Steve Cagan
This spring the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes will be holding their 39th annual plant sale. It’s a major fund-raiser for the center, and every year there’s a stronger emphasis on native plants. This year the catalog will be only online, and you can find it here. Orders can be placed until April 17, or until their inventory is sold.
One of the popular activities in the sale has been the “homegrown” section. Local gardeners contribute plants from their own gardens. Last year, and this year, because of conditions imposed by the pandemic, we have offered this as a separate event. This year it will be on Sunday, June 13, from 11 AM to 3 PM, at the center. Sale day will be conducted according to US and Ohio public health social distancing guidelines.
We’d love to see you all there that day. In addition, we invite you to join other area gardeners in dividing and donating some successful perennials from your own garden for this year’s homegrown sale!
We particularly seek donations of plants that have done well in your yard without being invasive, including:
- Native or non-native flowering perennials
- Ferns and other foliage plants that do well in shade
as well as:
- Small shrubs or trees
- Edibles
- Houseplants
The Nature Center reserves the right to discard plants known to be invasive.
Donated plants should be potted up far enough in advance of the Sale to avoid transplanting shock. A supply of empty pots is available for your use behind the Pavilion at the Nature Center. Potted-up, sale-ready plants can be dropped off at the Nature Center Pavilion on Friday June 11 & Saturday June 12, from 9AM to 6PM.
We encourage you to contact us beforehand to discuss your donations. It would be most helpful if you could provide us with an emailed or written list of what you plan to donate, so that we can prepare appropriate labels. Please contact Dick Obermanns at 216-752-9776 or obermanns@aol.com. Thanks for your support!
Steve is a local photographer and birder. His work can be found at his website: http://www.stevecagan.com