When and where to find native plant sales, 2010

Photo: High Park VSP

Sat May 1st 8am - noon
Lambton Wildlife Inc.'s Native Plant Sale
1267 Lakeshore Road, Sarnia, Lambton County
Money from the plant sale goes to saving and purchasing environmentally sensitive land sites in Lambton County. Organizer: Brenda Kulon 869-2833

Sat. May 8th 10am - 3pm
North American Native Plant Society's (NANPS) Plant Sale
101 Town Centre Blvd. Markham (Hwy 7 & Warden Ave).
See the plant list here. Advanced orders now closed = get there early!
"Canada's largest native plant sale and series of talks to help aid home gardeners. Hundreds of native plants available. All plants come from NANPS approved ethical growers. Also find hundreds of books on related topics". Free presentations too:
11:30 a.m. - Rachel Gagnon from the Ontario Invasive Plant Council: ‘Identifying and Controlling Invasive Plants’
12:30 p.m. - Gavin Trevelyan from Tallgrass Ontario: ‘Prairie Plants for Your Garden’

Sun May 9th, 11am -2pm
High Park Volunteer Stewardship Program's Native Plant Sale
At the High Park Greenhouse, Toronto. To volunteer or for questions, pls contact vsp@highpark.org, 416-392-1748 extension 1. For info about their plants, see this great info piece from last year.

Sat May 15th, Noon-4pm
Leslieville Tree Festival (and native plant sale)
Leslie Grove Park, Queen St East and Jones Ave, Toronto

2010 opening days for just few southern Ontario native plant nurseries with public retail hours:

• Sat Apr 24th: Acorus (Walsingham, Norfolk County) Weds to Sunday 10-5pm
• Mon Apr 26th: Grand Moraine Growers (near Fergus) Mon - Sat, 9am - 5pm, closed Sundays & holidays
• Fri. May 7th: Evergreen Gardens opens at the Brick Works (Toronto). 9am–6pm, 7 days a week
• Mon May 10th: Nith River Native Plants (near New Hamburg / Waterloo) 9am - 3pm
• Sat May 15th: Native Plants in Claremont (N. of Pickering) Mon - Fri 10am - 3pm, Sat & Sun: 10am - 4pm

TIP: it's best to look ahead at their retail catalogues on their websites (besides, those catalogues are informative), or even call ahead for availability.

Also: Grow Wild! Native Plant Nursery (near Claremont / North of Pickering; and Omemee near Peterborough) is open now. Owner Paul Heydon says that while they won't have regular public retail nursery hours again until they've completed their move to Omemee near Peterborough, folks are already phoning in their orders and picking them up. Check out Grow Wild's online catalogue (some really gorgeous native flowers in there) and call Paul at (416) 735-7490 to order. Carries plants indigenous to Toronto, southern and central Ontario.