KEMPTON — Native garden enthusiasts converged on Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Albany Township for the 21st annual Spring Native Plant Sale on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19.
Held outside the Visitor Center, the native plant sale featured almost 100 species of native trees, grasses, ferns, shrubs and flowering plants.
“The purpose of the Native Plant Sale is to educate the public of the value of putting native plants into their gardens and landscape,” said one of the plant sale organizers Joanne Kintner of Washington Township.
All proceeds benefit Hawk Mountain’s conservation and education programs.
“The sale is an education tool as well as a fundraiser,” Kintner said in a statement. “Our goal is to educate the public on native plants and their use in gardens and the benefits they provide. And the funds we raise go directly to Hawk Mountain and its mission.”
A longtime garden volunteer at the sanctuary, Kintner is one of the many people involved in the maintenance of the sanctuary’s Native Plant Habitat Garden, which was dedicated in 1988. The garden volunteers organize the native plant sale every spring and fall. A Fall Native Plant Sale will be held Sept. 18.
Garden volunteers provide plants dug from their own gardens for the native plant sale. Plants that are abundant in the sanctuary’s Native Plant Habitat Garden are also potted for the sale as well. Plants are also purchased from growers who raise native plants.
“There is a dedicated crew of garden volunteers who work in the garden and prepare for the sales,” said Kintner. “They maintain the garden as well. There are specific people who have certain jobs related to the sale. But it truly is a team effort.”
Kintner noted that the Hawk Mountain Stewards are also a huge help to the garden volunteers with setting up and tearing down the sale.
“We couldn’t do it without their help,” she said.
Volunteers initiated the idea for the first native plant sale, said volunteer Susan Wolfe.
“The first effort to educate the public about native plants and promote them was Habitat at Hawk Mountain, but since there were very few sources to buy natives, a plant sale was the logical next step to advance our mission,” said Wolfe. “Our efforts have been successful — in addition to new customers, many return for future sales and volunteers who moved out of the area are still promoting natives around the U.S.”
The number of species and quantities have continued to grow as has the amount of time volunteers spend on the project, she said.
“It is a very rewarding effort and the volunteers have grown into a close-knit group that meets every Friday not only to work but to enjoy the camaraderie,” said Wolfe.
The day of the sale, volunteers carry purchases to buyers’ cars, store them until the end of the day’s visit and offer gardening tips for any home landscape.
“Planting native plants will provide food, cover, shelter and nesting areas that people can use to enhance their gardens and provide for wildlife from insects and butterflies, birds, amphibians and mammals,” said Kintner.
Native plants available for purchase included asters, sunflowers, milkweeds, mountain laurel and phlox.
“If you plant it they will come,” she said. “And you will benefit and enjoy the things you attract. You can also use natives to expand gardens and cut down on lawn and mowing. Create your own personal habitat.”
Kintner hopes the plant sale provides an incentive for people to plant natives and continue their education about the use and worth of these plants.
“Instill this hope in their children and friends. Spread the native plant word,” she said.
Native plants are also important for raptors.
“The web of life is part of this,” said Kintner. “The native habitat garden provides food and cover for many things, including squirrels and chipmunks, which in turn will allow raptors to feed on these critters in the garden and nearby areas.”
Native gardens can play a large part in improving the environment.
“Especially when replacing lawns which are a monoculture and provide no benefit to wildlife,” said Wolfe. “Pesticides and herbicides can be harmful to humans and mowing is also a source of pollution.”
Most native plants are perennials, requiring less labor and expense. Native shrubs and trees can provide a screen or create a pleasant area to relax or congregate, she said.
“Plants are the base of the food chain and everything else depends on them,” said Wolfe.
For those interested in learning more, Hawk Mountain’s bookstore offers a selection of native plant gardening books year-round.
Wolfe recommended reading “Bringing Nature Home,” the first book by Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology at University of Delaware, which she said is an excellent source of information about the use and benefits of natives plants.
“It contains a list of plants, their conditions and wildlife uses and also cites the results of many years of research by Tallamy’s grad students in an interesting, easy to understand and sometimes humorous way. Tallamy’s other books delve into later research findings and provide ideas for landscaping,” said Wolfe.
Raptors Up Close!
The sale also presented visitors with a great excuse to explore the sanctuary’s trails and scenic overlooks, and attend the free Raptors Up Close! program, hosted every weekend through Memorial Day in the amphitheater.
The live raptor program, appropriate for visitors of all ages, offers the chance to see live hawks and owls, and to learn what puts these winged predators at the top of nature’s food chain. Sponsored by M&T Bank, this program is offered free of charge.
While the raptor programs are held every Saturday and Sunday during the spring and fall migration seasons, holding the program during the Spring Native Plant Sale offered an additional educational benefit.
“Increasing native plantings, because of the lack of biodiversity as invasive species have moved into the environment, is so important because our native animals rely so heavily on biodiverse flora,” Raptors Up Close! program volunteer Kelsey Schwenk-Hubler of Schuylkill Haven said in a statement.
A volunteer in the sanctuary raptor care program, Schwenk-Hubler introduced a female Eastern Screech Owl, one of the raptors in the care program, to those gathered at the outdoor amphitheater on Sunday, May 19.
The full-grown adult owl had been found injured on the side of the road. After rehabilitation, her wing injury and vision impairment prevented being able to successfully go back into the wild but she made the perfect candidate for the education setting, Schwenk-Hubler said during the program.
She offered tips for how people can help raptors, such as not throwing food scraps out of their car windows, which attracts raptors to the road and often leads to being struck by vehicles.
Much of the program focused on educating the audience about raptors, from their claws and beaks to their life expectancy, as well as what they eat.
“I just hope people gain a better understanding of raptors and what role they play in the ecosystem,” Schwenk-Hubler said after the program. “I think they are a misunderstood species some times and people don’t really understand the grander role that they play and how they’re so important in ecosystem function and regulation when it comes to disease control.”
By understanding what raptors do on a daily basis, such as keeping rodent populations in check, she believes people will embrace them more.
Schwenk-Hubler has a bachelor’s degree in wildlife conservation from the University of Delaware and a master’s in natural resource management from University of Connecticut.
“I love working with wildlife, so I decided to turn my hobby into working with wildlife since I don’t get to do that in my daily job,” she said. “Getting that interaction with wildlife is really great for me; it’s somewhat cathartic I would say because I love working with animals. Understanding their personalities as individual birds has been quite a unique experience for me.
“Overall, the mission of Hawk Mountain and what it’s been able to accomplish in the 90 years that it’s been here is incredible, just to know how it’s been a part of a lot of conservation success stories here in the U.S. I want to be a part of it.”
The 2,500-acre Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the world’s first refuge for birds of prey, is open to the public year-round by trail-fee or membership, which in turn supports the nonprofit organization’s raptor conservation mission and local-to-global research, training and education programs. To learn more about Hawk Mountain or other programs, call 610-756-6961 or visit hawkmountain.org.
Source: Berkshire mont