MPF will hold a native plant sale on Friday, September 30, at Roeslein & Associates, Inc., 9200 Watson Road, St. Louis, MO, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Native plants beautify landscapes and help support songbirds and other cherished wildlife. Buy native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, trees, vines, sedges, and native seed from Grow Native! professional members:
Gaylena’s Garden Missouri Wildflowers Nursery Papillon Perennials River City Natives
Shoppers can stroll through the sale and purchase plants from each vendor. Shoppers can also pre-order plants and have their orders ready for pick up at the event. All of the vendors are accepting pre-orders. When placing your pre-orders, please include your phone number and note that the order is for the Roeslein & Associates sale on September 30.
Missouri Wildflowers Nursery Order by calling 573-496-3492, by email at mowldflrs@socket.net, or online by Monday, September 26 at midnight: http://mowildflowers.net. See http://mowildflowers.net for a plant list.
Papillon Perennials Find available plants at https://www.papillonperennials.com/. To place your order, call (636) 273-9688 by Wednesday, September 28 at 5 p.m.
River City Natives Order online (www.rivercitynatives.com) or via email (rivercitynatives@gmail.com) by Wednesday, September 28 @ 5:00 p.m. Visit www.rivercitynatives.com for available selections.
Some vendors accept cash, check, or credit cards; some only cash or checks. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own crates or boxes for bringing their purchased plants home. Volunteers will be available to load plants into vehicles for those needing assistance.
Vendors will donate 5% of their proceeds from this sale to benefit the Missouri Prairie Foundation, and Roeslein & Associates will match this amount.
Bob and Mary Ann Schwarz are another winner of the Yard of the Month at 613 Sessions Ave. Their front yard garden can be seen easily from the street.
Their back yard is filled with mainly shade-loving plants like hosta, perennial geranium and they use Hydrangea as a hedge against a white fence. They told me that they have been working on the garden for the past fifty years, so I’m glad we can finally recognize their gardening efforts.
Also known as the Chelsea Chop, cutting back certain plants by 1/3 to 1/2 is a common practice to maintain control and size in the garden.
One of the things I’ve noticed with native plants is that when you find them in parks with poor native soils, lots of competition, no extra water other than the rain and certainly no fertilizer, they seem to maintain a diminished size. Once you buy that same plant and put it into good garden soil with compost, fertilizer, lots of space and plenty of water, the native turns from dwarf to GIANT. In the past, I end up staking many of these plants just so they don’t fall over.
I am making a conscious effort this year, around May 15th, to cut back all of these giants by 1/2.
Here’s a list of plants which I plan to trim back.
Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana)
Echnacea purprea – Purple coneflower – only doing this with some so I can get some later blooms.
Helianthus silphioides – Silphium Sunflower – 2020 N
Heliopsis helianthoides – Ox-eye Sunflower
New England Aster
Oligoneuron rigidum – Rigid Goldenrod
Salvia – cutting back half of the plants.
Senna marilandica – Wild Senna
Solidago rigida or Oligoneuron rigidum – Rigid Goldenrod
Vernonia p. Ironweed
Veronica – cutting back half of the plants.
Here’s a video on the technique.
Technique #2 – Pinching Your Plants
Many annuals and some perennials can have more branches and blossoms by simply cutting back the main stems – called pinching since you can use your fingers to make the cut.
When you pinch the main stems, you usually force the plant to send out side shoots which will make the plant bushier and increase flower production.
Here’s a good video on the process.
Technique #3 – Chop half the plants.
October 4, 2020
I noticed one year that the bunnies had taken a liking to some of my echinacea and kept them trimmed low most of the early part of the season. While most of my echinacea bloomed normally, the bunny-trimmed echinacea bloomed later in the summer and into the fall. I thought I’d try this technique by chopping back half of my echinacea so I theoretically will have echinacea blooming all year round.
Diana Linsley is the newest winner of the Yard of the Month and is located on Larsen Lane.
She was recently awarded a grant by the WildOnes and had the club come over and install the garden in one morning. All plants are natives which is part of the WildOnes.org mission. They have a number of free garden designs which might be helpful when setting up your native garden. Attached is a link to the St Louis chapter of Wildones https://stlwildones.org/
Golden AlexanderRain GardenRose VerbenaDiana and Blue Belle
Check-in will begin at 8:45 am. Time period is 9 a.m. to Noon.
**This event will be held rain or shine except in the event of severe weather. If this is the case, we will cancel the April 30 event and reschedule for a later date.
The removal method for this event will be to cut the plant using loppers and/or handsaws before treating it with herbicide. Long sleeves and pants are appropriate. Tools and supplies will be provided.
Beautify Crestwood 