Wild Ones’ Midcoast Maine chapter’s most important event of the year is coming right up. The annual 2024 Camden Native Plant Celebration & Sale is September 15. Volunteer opportunities are numerous and varied and filling them is critical to the success of this event. Help us create great access to the locally grown native plants and plant education.
To volunteer or to inquire for more information please send a message: [email protected]
There are also other board and volunteer positions open within our chapter and your participation is very important to our mission and success.
Pictured: Black Eyed Susan (rudbekia hirta) image by Lisa Looke, Wild Seed Project
Please join us on September 15, 2024, purchasing plants, and/or volunteering in support of our nurseries.
Tell your friends, and help us make native plants the preference for everyone’s landscapes and gardens supporting a healthy environment.
Begin Your Plant Sale Choices with Pre-Sales
Make your choices early and confirm availability of the plants you want by reserving them via Pre–Sales with the nurseries ahead of Sunday the 15th. Pick up of Pre-Sales and day-of sales will be on the 15th.
This year’s participating nurseries’ Pre-Sale Native Plant Lists are linked:
– Bas Rouge Farm & Forge – Orono, ME
– Blue Aster – South China, ME
– Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery – Washington, ME
Call to place Pre-Sale order: 207-845-2140
– 5 Star Nursery & Orchard – Brooklin, ME
– Honey Petal Plants – Brooks, ME
Request Pre-Sale List here: [email protected]
– Marpa Farm – Richmond, ME
– Rebel Hill Farm – Liberty, ME
– Rooted Elements – Montville, ME
– Flora Maine Native Plants + Gardens – Waldoboro, ME
This compilation of the plant varieties are on many of this year’s Plant Sale nurseries offerings’ lists:
| Scientific Name | Common name(s) |
| Abies balsamea | Balsam Fir |
| Achillea millefolium | Common Yarrow, Yarrow |
| Actaea pachypoda | Doll’s-Eyes, White Baneberry |
| Actaea racemosa | Black Bugbane |
| Actaea rubra | Red Baneberry |
| Adiantum pedatum | Maidenhair Fern |
| Ageratina altissima | White Snakeroot |
| Allium cernuum | Nodding Onion |
| Amelanchier canadensis | Shadbush |
| Anaphalis margaritacea | Pearly Everlasting |
| Andropogon gerardii | Big Bluestem |
| Anemone canadensis | Canada Anemone |
| Anemone virginiana | Tall Thimbleweed, Tall Anemone |
| Antennaria plantaginifolia | Plantain-leaf Pussy Toes, Ladies Tobacco |
| Apios americana | Groundnut |
| Aquilegia canadensis | Wild Columbine, Red Columbine, Eastern Red Columbine |
| Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Bearberry, Kinnickkinnick, Pinemat Manzanita |
| Arisaema triphyllum | Jack-in-the-Pulpit |
| Aronia melanocarpa | Black Chokeberry, Black Aronia |
| Asclepias incarnata | Swamp Milkweed, Rose Milkweed |
| Asclepias syriaca | Common Milkweed |
| Asclepias tuberosa | Butterflyweed |
| Aster macrophyllus | Big Leaf Aster |
| Caltha palustris | Marsh Marigold |
| Campanula rotundifolia | Scotch Bellflower, Harebell |
| Carex albicans | White-tinged Sedge |
| Carex bicknellii | Bicknell’s Sedge |
| Carex lurida | Lurid Sedge |
| Carex pensylvanica | Pennsylvania Sedge |
| Carex plantaginea | Seersucker Sedge, Plantain-leaved Sedge |
| Carex radiata | Eastern Star Sedge |
| Carex rosea | Golden Star Sedge |
| Carex sprengellii | Long-beaked Sedge |
| Carex stricta | Tussock Sedge |
| Carex vulpinoidea | Fox Sedge |
| Ceanothus americanus | New Jersey Tea |
| Cephalanthus occidentalis | Buttonbush |
| Chamaenerion angustifolium | Fireweed |
| Chelone glabra | White Turtlehead |
| Chenopodium capitatum | Strawberry Spinach, Strawberry Goosefoot, Strawberry Blite |
| Clematis virginiana | Virgin’s Bower Clematis |
| Clethra alnifolia | Coastal Pepperbush, Coastal Sweet-Pepper, Summer Sweet |
| Cornus alternifolia | Pagoda Dogwood, Alternateleaf Dogwood |
| Cornus racemosa | Gray Dogwood |
| Danthonia spicata | Poverty Oatgrass, Poverty Grass |
| Desmodium canadense | Showy Tick-Trefoil |
| Diervilla lonicera | Busy Honeysuckle |
| Doellingeria umbellata | Tall White Aster |
| Dryopteris marginalis | Marginal Shield Fern, Marginal Wood Fern |
| Ecinacea pallida | Pale Purple Coneflower |
| Eragrostis spectabilis | Purple Lovegrass |
| Elymus hystrix | Bottlebrush Grass |
| Eupatorium perfoliatum | Boneset Thoroughwort, Boneset |
| Eurybia divaricata | White Wood Aster |
| Eurybia macrophylla | Large-leafed Aster, Big-leafed Aster |
| Euthamnia graminifolia | Goldenrod, Flat-topped Goldenrod, Lance-leaved Goldenrod |
| Eutrochium dubium | Coastal Plain Joe Pye Weed |
| Eutrochium maculatum | Spotted Joe Pye Weed |
| Eutrochium purpureum | Purple Joe Pye Weed |
| Gaultheria procumbens | Wintergreen |
| Gentiana andrewsii | Closed Gentian, Closed Bottle Gentian |
| Geranium maculatum | Wild Geranium, Cranesbill Geranium, Cranesbill |
| Geum fragaroides | Appalachian Barren Strawberry |
| Gillenia trifoliata | Bowman’s Root |
| Hamamelis virginiana | Witch Hazel |
| Helenium autumnale | Helen’s Flower, Sneezeweed |
| Ilex verticillata | Winterberry |
| Iris versicolor | Blue Flag |
| Juncus tenuis | Path Rush |
| Juniperus communis | Pasture Juniper |
| Liatris novae-angliae | Blazing star |
| Lobelia cardinalis | Cardinal Flower |
| Lobelia siphilitica | Great Blue Lobelia, Blue Lobelia |
| Lysimachia ciliata | Fringed Loosestrife |
| Monarda fistulosa | Wild Bergamot |
| Monarda punctata | Spotted Bee Balm |
| Morella caroliniensis | Small Bayberry |
| Myrica pensylvanica | Northern Bayberry |
| Osmunda claytoniana | Interrupted Fern |
| Osmunda regalis | Royal Fern |
| Ostrya virginiana | Hophornbeam |
| Packera aurea | Golden Ragwort, Golden Groundsel |
| Panicum virgatum | Switchgrass |
| Parthenocissus quinquefolia | Virginia Creeper |
| Penstemon digitalis | Foxglove Beardtongue |
| Penstemon hirsutus | Dwarf Hairy Beardtongue, Hairy Beardtongue, Northeastern Beardtongue |
| Physostegia virginiana | Obedient False Dragonhead, Obedient Plant |
| Polemonium reptans | Jacob’s Ladder |
| Polystichum acrostichoides | Christmas Fern |
| Prunus pumila | Sandcherry |
| Pycanthemum muticum | Broad-Leaved Mountain Mint, Clustered Mountain Mint, Short-Toothed Mountain Mint |
| Pycnanthemum virginianum | Virginia Mountain Mint |
| Rhus hirta | Staghorn Sumac |
| Rosa virginiana | Virginia rose |
| Rubus oderatus | Flowering Raspberry |
| Rudbeckia laciniata | Green-headed Coneflower, Wild Goldenglow |
| Rudbeckia triloba | Three-lobed Coneflower |
| Salix discolor | Pussywillow |
| Salix nigra | Black Wllow |
| Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis | Black Elderberry, American Elder |
| Sambucus racemosa | Red Elderberry |
| Sanguinaria canadensis | Bloodroot |
| Schizachyrium scoparium | Little Bluestem |
| Scrophularia lanceolata | Early Figwort |
| Scrophularia marilandica | Late Figwort |
| Sedum ternatum | Woodland Stonecrop |
| Solidago bicolor | Silverrod |
| Solidago caesia | Blue-stemmed Goldenrod |
| Solidago flexicaulis | Zigzag Goldenrod |
| Solidago nemoralis | Gray Goldenrod |
| Solidago sempervirens | Seaside Goldenrod |
| Solidago ulmifolia | Elm-Leaved Goldenrod |
| Spiraea tomentosa | Steeplebush |
| Swida amomum | Silky Dogwood |
| Symphyotrichum cordifolium | Heart-leaved Aster, Blue Wood Aster, Common Blue Wood Aster, Heart-leaved Aster |
| Symphyotrichum ericoides | Heath Aster |
| Symphyotrichum laevis | Smooth American Aster, Smooth Blue Aster |
| Symphyotrichum lateriflorum | Calico Aster |
| Symphyotrichum puniceum | Purple-stemmed Aster |
| Symphyotricum novae-angliae | New England Aster |
| Thalictrum pubescens | Tall Meadow Rue, King of the Meadow |
| Tiarella cordifolia | Foamflower |
| Trillium erectum | Wake Robin, Red Trillium |
| Vaccinium agustifolium | Lowbush blueberry |
| Verbena hastata | Blue Vervain, Blue Verbena |
| Vernonia noveboracensis | New York Ironweed |
| Veronicastrum virginicum | Culver’s Root |
| Viburnum dentatum | Smooth Arrowwood, Arrowwood Viburnum |
| Viburnum lentago | Nannyberry, Wild Raisin |
| Viburnum nudum | Wild Raisin |
| Viburnum trilobum | Highbush Cranberry |
| Vitis riparia | River grape |
| Zizia aptera | Heart-leaved Alexander |
| Zizia aurea | Golden Alexanders |
There will be shopping from local native plant nurseries, educational booths with various organizations; conversations with native plant growers, experts, gardeners, and landscapers; two speakers; music; special guest of honor Rachel Bok Goldman, and more! This is a great opportunity to learn more about native plants and incorporate them into your own garden and yard.
At 10:00 am Sharon Turner of Crystal Lake Farm Tree & Plant Nursery will speak on “Keystone Tree and Shrub Species to Support Bird and Wildlife Populations.”
At 11:00 a.m. there will be a welcoming of the event’s Guest of Honor Rachel Bok Goldman, the granddaughter of the library parks benefactor, Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist — both women ahead of their times and champions of Maine’s beautiful native plants.
At 12:00 p.m. noon, David Kibbe of Old Soul’s Farm Permaculture / Food Gardening will speak on “The Benefits of Using Native Pollinator Plants for Vegetable and Fruit Growing.”
Throughout the day Environmental Educator Lynn Rutter of Roots n Shoots After School Care will provide educational activities for children. Come and Play! Dig a hole and plant an Oak. Design your own Backyard Habitat. Sort seeds and paint wildflowers! Join a Wildflower Bingo Game – and lots more fun and meaningful activities!
Featured Artist Cassie Sano, plein air artist and children’s book author, will be painting and displaying her works featuring native plants and habitats throughout the day.
About Native Plants
All plants are from local native plant nurseries and are grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, and neonicotinoids. Once established in the right environment, native plants are low maintenance and normally don’t require watering, fertilizer, herbicide, fungicides, or pesticides. Native plants are beloved by those who want to do their part to make their garden a natural oasis for wildlife.
About the Library’s Commitment to Native Plants
This event is part of the Camden Public Library’s ongoing celebration of Fredrick Law Olmsted Sr. and our historic parks. Considered by many to be the father of modern day landscape architecture, Olmsted’s firm oversaw the design of Camden’s iconic Harbor Park, noted for its utilization of native plants and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Together with the Library’s Amphitheatre, designed by Fletcher Steele (and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2013), the two parks are champions of native plant and garden design. A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit the Camden Public Library.