Michigan Native Plant Aster Novae-Angliae, commonly known as the New England Aster.

Consider wild geranium for that shady spot near your house in the front yard. Or how about penstemon digitalis (beardstongue) for that sunny well-draining bed near your back fence.  Or swamp milkweed for that low area by the garage that tends to stay wet?

Native plants are good for the Huron River.  They have deep, “thirsty” roots that help retain water on your site and filter out the pollutants in runoff.  They help stabilize soils and prevent erosion.

If you would like to add a few native plants to your garden this spring, or you need some for a rain garden that will catch your rooftop runoff, check out the:

Matthaei Botanical Gardens Spring Plant Sale, May 7-9.

The best native plants at the sale are provided by the Native Plant Nursery. NPN, owned by Greg Vaclovic, is the only vendor there and will be in a separate area offering native plants and kits.  Matthaei Botanical Gardens does sell some native species mixed in with the rest of the plants offered, but they can’t guarantee the genotypes, so people who are deeply interested in planting natives should buy from NPN. All plants are non-invasive and are grouped in ways that help people with eco-friendly gardening techniques (low water, raingardens, etc).

Additional sources of native plants can be found at the Michigan Native Plant Producers Association website. Or go to HRWC’s page on native plants or rain gardens for information.

Do you know of a good retail source for native plants? Don’t keep it a secret. Share it in a REPLY to this post!