Native Plants: Rainventure! [Bonsai]
Follow me on my special rainy day adventure. I call it a Rainventure, because it was a planned outdoor event that was going to happen rain or shine, and rain it did indeed!
Today I went to a native plant sale. It was hosted by the city's water and soil district, which is responsible for protecting and planting many native plant species in many of the local parks and wild lands. They propagate thousands of plants from seed, and in the late winter they sell dormant young plants to the community to raise money.
What a great way to encourage the community to come together to benefit a #natural #ecosystem!
On a #rainy Saturday morning, locals were lining up early outside the tents. You could feel the excitement in the air from those in line, as well as the volunteers. As we waited, they were offering us all kinds of free goodies. Donut holes, coffee, t-shirts, posters, planting guides, brochures, and educational booklets for children. All these things were being offered for free.
On the other side of the line, experts were standing by willing to offer advice to questions about native plant species, such as how to care for them and get them planted. Everyone there was clearly dedicated to promoting good stewardship for the health of native plants.
The rain was starting to fall, and thankfully I brought my trusty umbrella.
When the lead volunteer un-roped the opening of the line, she did a countdown, and we were thrilled to get our hands green with new plants.
The little #korgi #dog ahead of me was very well behaved, by the way. One of the volunteers happily shared a doggie treat as we waited.
All plant sales were arranged online ahead of time, and today was the only day to pick-up plants that were purchased. It makes things really fast, because nobody is making decisions about what they want to get, and no money is being handled. All they needed was our name, and a volunteer would rush into the tent and grab our pre-wrapped order.
As the rain began to fall a bit harder and customers were swarming around the tent waiting for their orders to be called out, it was getting a bit uncomfortably crowded. Fortunately, orders were flying out rather quickly, and the line of over a hundred people was being processed efficiently.
Most plants were provided in bare-root form, without any soil. Small shrubs and trees in their first year of growth could be sold cheaply in this way. All plants were around $3 or $4 in cost total. Some edible fruit trees and shrubs were also available, which is a super deal. Most professional plant nurseries will charge 5 to 10 times that much in price for a much larger mature tree.
Personally I prefer buying plants this way, and I wish more plant nurseries would offer discount native plant sales like this. By starting small with many plants, there is less worry if something dies, and the native varieties will often work well with each other and benefit from the bio-diversity of beneficial insects and birds they attract. By starting small, we learn how to become better stewards and take care of the plant's health so it can become big and beautiful some day. We can also learn what the plant looks like when it is growing vigorously, and what it looks like when it is distressed.
When my order for two conifers finally arrived, I wanted to ask a volunteer a question, because it looked like I was missing one tree. She inspected inside the wrapping, and did indeed find a second tree hidden inside. Each tree was labeled, so I would know how to identify which is which.
The rain was becoming treacherous now. I grabbed a t-shirt, posters, some stickers, and some other native plant educational materials on my way out. The most difficult part was trying to hold an umbrella, my trees, and all the other things that I didn't want to get wet, as I snagged a few donut holes to eat on the way home!
Even though I prepared a box to hold the trees upright in the car, there was no need for that since the trees were bare-rooted. I threw them in the trunk, and raced home through the oncoming storm.
Pictured Above: #Grand-Fir and #Western-Hemlock are the two coniferous native trees I acquired at the native plant sale today. New tree species for me to learn to grow in my little bonsai collection.
My Rainventure had just begun! These trees needed to be planted, and pronto. A tree separated from the soil is like a millennial separated from their smartphone.
Join me next time as I share my bonsai planting demonstration of these new young trees.
#native-plants #tree #conifer #conifers #fir #hemlock #root #roots #gardening #photography #festival #plant-sale #rainventure
Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.
Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.
Here! If I want a native plant, I ask people to dig a small one out when they see them growing up from fallen seeds!
So it depends on luck!
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Yes, sometimes my friends will let me swap plants with them. This sale they had almost a hundred different plant varieties. Some of them are desperately needed to be planted in the area, because invasive plants are taking over and reducing the native plant populations.