Central PA Native Plant Festival - May 3, 2014

Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, Petersburg, PA.  Celebrate the arrival of spring, the return of wildflowers, and the beginning of another gardening season at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center!  Shaver's Creek and the Pa. Native Plant Society are proud to host the annual Central Pa. Native Plant Festival and Sale.  Come on out for a hike, a picnic... and enjoy one of the educational programs on native plant gardening.  In addition to expert speakers, we'll have native plants for sale; local seasonal prepared foods; and educational resource tables where you can have native plant and gardening questions answered.  Admission is free, but please come prepared to support our vendors  through purchases of plants and/or foods.    Click here for complete details. 

New for 2014 - Looking for that special plant?  This year, you can pre-order plants through our vendors and pick them up at the festival - just contact one of our vendors to place your order.  See Plant List.

What are Native Plants?

A native plant is one that occurs naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or habitat without direct or indirect human intervention. We consider the flora present at the time Europeans arrived in North America as the species native to the eastern United States. Native plants include all kinds of plants from mosses and ferns to wildflowers, shrubs, and trees.

Why Plant Natives?

Because native plants are adapted to the growing conditions where you live, they are often easier to grow, require less maintenance such as watering, and are less susceptible to challenging conditions than non-native plants.  Many Non-native plants are also invasive, and threaten to crowd out our native plant species.  Incorporating native plants in your home landscape will encourage birds, pollinators, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
 

In Bloom

The skunk cabbage is our earliest flowering plant, sometimes emerging through the snow and at a time of year when temperatures may still dip below freezing. It is a unique plant in that it is one of a small group of plants capable of generating heat through thermogenesis, a process that allows the plant to generate heat in excess of 59-95º melting ice and snow.  Though the plant produces a pungent odor, it is not poisonous.  The odor is used to attract the plants pollinators, namely flies, stoneflies, and early bees.

The large maroon spathe  forms a cup around the slender finger-like spadix, which is covered in small flowers. The leaves, which emerge after the flower puts on its appearance, are large, fleshy, and bright green.



Let us know what your favorite plant is - email us at Info@panativeplantsociety.org


Picture courtesy of Stefan Bloodworth, Lady Bird Johnson Wldlife Center


Upcoming Events

March 22, 2014 - Native Plant Communities: Templates for Creating & Restoring Sustainable Landscapes presentation by Dr Donald Leopold, York, PA.

April 29, 2014 - Field Trip to Shenk's Ferry in Lancaster County.

April 5, 2014 - Pennsylvania Rare Plant Forum in State College.

Click here for a complete listing of Events.