Green-thumbed gardeners gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bowling Green Saturday morning to shop at the Wild Ones fifth annual fall native plant sale.
Wild Ones is an organization with chapters across the United States that aims to connect and educate people on the important role native plants play in local ecosystems. Their Southern Kentucky chapter meets at Lost River Cave on the second Tuesday of every month
Club meeting activities include workshops, field trips, gardening projects and of course, plant sales.
The sale opened at 9 a.m. and ran until 12 p.m., and allowed shoppers to purchase plant species completely native to southern Kentucky.
Booths from local growers Ironweed Native Plant Nursery, Pennyrile Botanics and Joy of Natives set up with almost 120 different kinds of native flowers, grasses, trees and shrubs.
“Most of us landscape with plants from other countries, because they’re pretty and they’re exotic, but they don’t feed our native birds, bees and butterflies,” said Former President of Wild Ones SoKy Chapter Janeen Grohsmeyer.
Grohsmeyer also said the plant sales make most of the money for the local Wild Ones chapter. They use the money to fund gardening-related projects and field trips.
Wild Ones member and local insect photographer John Zippay said he joined the club once he realized why native species were so important to local ecosystems.
“I started with natives for the wrong reason,” Zippay said. “But then I got into why the natives are important… Native flowers have changed over millions of years to help the bees pollinate them.”
“Our real goal is to help other people understand that, and to get as many native plants into our local landscapes as possible,” Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter President Katie Marquardt said in an interview with the Herald.
Marquardt urged local organizations to consider utilizing their green space for native planting.
“We need more businesses and churches, places where there is land to share with native plants,” Marquardt said.
