Plants are delivered to your door
As gardeners gaze out their wintry windows and dream of spring, the Liberty Prairie Conservancy has launched a unique native plant sale for Lake County residents.
Through March 15, people can shop online for plant collections to be delivered to their door this spring. Each collection includes two professionally designed layouts and is designed to work well as either a linear garden along a fence or walkway, or a stand-alone circular garden.
Proceeds support the nonprofit's new Conservation@Home effort, an eco-friendly lawn and garden program already popular in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties.
“People asked us to make it easy for them,” says Steve Barg, executive director of Liberty Prairie Conservancy.
“Many folks don't want to fret over design concerns about color, height, bloom season, et cetera. And traditional plant sales oftentimes conflict with busy schedules. With this, you can shop from home and have the plants delivered fresh and green to your doorstep. Our designers took the guesswork out of selection, performance and design.”
Wild iris, native hibiscus, wild petunia and rattlesnake master are just a few of the perennial flowers included. Four collections are available for early June delivery.
Designed through a partnership between Possibility Place Nursery of Monee and EarthWild Gardens of Grayslake, each collection includes 32 flower and ornamental grass plants and four shrubs such as wild rose and wild indigo.
The collections are: Butterflies Galore, Proud Prairie, Savanna Heritage and Serenity Rain Garden. All species are native to northeastern Illinois.
Once established, native plants require far less care than nonnative species, with virtually no need for watering or fertilizing. Their deep roots hold and build soil while filtering large quantities of rainwater.
Their most cherished characteristic, however, is their contribution to songbirds and butterflies, with enormous numbers relying upon them for food that common landscaping plants can't provide due to complex plant-animal relationships.
Visit www.libertyprairie.org through March 15. Orders also are accepted by phone or mail. Call (847) 548-5989.
The Liberty Prairie Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that helps to preserve and steward natural areas, farmland and other open space throughout Lake County.