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 Valhalla, NY - Are you wild about wildflowers? Ready to see meadows in bloom? Come to The Native Plant Center’s demonstration gardens at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York on July 20 and imagine how wildflowers and native plants could spice up your garden.
There will be native plants to buy as well, some potted up from our own gardens.
The Lady Bird Johnson Demonstration Garden and the Stone Cottage Garden will be open for free tours on Sunday, July 20 from 12 noon until 4:00 p.m. As part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days program, volunteer guides will showcase the garden and answer questions about various plants and flowers. Curious about the Carolina Silverbell? Now is the time to satisfy your curiosity.
In addition to the tours (rain or shine), there will be a special presentation on “Raising Butterflies” at 3:00 p.m. by Nancy Hough. She has been raising butterflies for release in the wild for many years. She will bring her homemade boxes with monarch butterfly eggs, caterpillars, cocoons, milkweed plants and adult butterflies, although what she is able to bring will depend on the weather and the mama monarchs. Did you know that the odds of an egg becoming a butterfly in the wild are 4 in 100?
The presentation will cover the following topics:
• Learn which plants will attract monarchs and why it is so important to cultivate these plants.
• Learn how to collect eggs from milkweed.
• Learn what to do with the eggs to ultimately be releasing healthy butterflies back to the wild.
The Lady Bird Johnson Demonstration Garden, installed in 1998, contains only native American plants indigenous to the northeastern United States. The perennial and shrub beds are designed to show how these beautiful and vigorous American species can be used in the home landscape. There are also two demonstration meadows, planted a year apart, using different management techniques. No pesticides or fertilizers are used in the garden.
The Stone Cottage Garden near the office of The Native Plant Center demonstrates how to use native plants for different gardening purposes. The four small gardens show plants for “Fall and Winter Interest,” “Foundation Plantings,” “Groundcovers” and “Bird and Butterfly Garden.”
The Native Plant Center in Valhalla is the first national affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Both centers share a common mission: to educate the community about the environmental necessity, economic value, and natural beauty of native plants. The demonstration gardens are open year-round for visitors. The Native Plant Center is a non-profit organization and a project of the college’s Foundation, the fundraising arm of the college.
The Garden Conservancy is the only national not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of gardens. By inviting the public to visit private gardens through its Open Days program, it strives to strengthen the public's commitment to garden preservation and encourage the appreciation of gardens as living works of art. You can visit them at www.gardenconservancy.org.
Call 914-606-6600 for directions to the college or go to www.nativeplantcenter.org. Park at the far end of Parking Lot 1. For more information, call The Native Plant Center at 914-606-7870.
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