Free Native Plants!

Free Native Plants!

- D. Delany, EAC Chair

Our Pollinator Pitstop garden in Evans Park is having its first birthday!  

To celebrate, we are giving away 100 New England Aster plants.  

To pick up your baby aster, meet us at the Pollinator Pitstop in Evans Park near the Rt. 401 parking area on Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 p.m. - 8:30p.m. (rain date May 25). Please RSVP just to let us know your interest; otherwise, just walk on up and meet us!   If you love to talk about nature and gardening or if you have any questions, please stay and chat!  If this time is not good for you, email us at eac@westvincenttwp.org to make other arrangements. 

The flowers in the Pitstop look so happy!  They bloom all summer long, but pollinators need food in spring and fall, too.  We are gathering on May 24 to add New England Aster and ‘Solar Cascade’ Goldenrod to the Pitstop, extending the bloom time until the end of fall.  Asters and goldenrods bloom until a hard frost. Their purple and yellow flowers look pretty for people and feed those hungry Monarchs as they head south.

Both asters and goldenrods are “Keystone Species”. A keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. By planting Keystone plants in our yards, we can have a strong positive effect on the health of our environment.  New England Asters look like small, pretty shrubs during spring and summer.  In fall, they are transformed into mounds of purple flowers.  Goldenrod is usually a large plant that might overwhelm the average garden, but Solar Cascade, the cultivar of Canada Goldenrod that we chose for the pitstop, is a well-behaved garden plant that looks like golden fireworks when blooming in the fall.

For more information on our Pollinator Pitstop program, check out our web page.  You will find descriptions of the plants and the planting plan.  

This is a program of the West Vincent Environmental Advisory Council