Friday, April 4, 2014

Totally Texas -- Ready to spring up and bloom

It’s spring in Texas--which means the weather is great for getting outside and playing in the dirt. I’m talking about adults playing the dirt. Dirt’s not just for kids anymore, and a slew of local plant sales are here to cater to the down and dirty in all of us.

(Nothing against kids. They’re great excuses for getting that little red Radio Flyer wagon out of the garage. They’re also the right height to save parents and grandparents the trouble of bending over to set small potted plants in that red wagon.)

North Texas has lots of excellent plant nurseries. But what I have in mind are the garden club and nonprofit group sales, offering natives, the unusual, the rare-- plants it’s often not feasible for commercial nurseries to provide. And although I’m providing ending times for these, arrive as early as possible for best results. They go fast.

April 5 -- Daylily Growers of Dallas spring sale, 9 a.m. - noon, North Haven Gardens, 7700 Northaven Road, Dallas. For information, call 972-820-1131.

April 5 -- Keep Flower Mound Beautiful, Trash Off & Environmental/Health Fair, 8:30 a.m. - noon. Registration at Home Depot parking lot, 352 International Parkway, Flower Mound. Participating groups include Trinity Forks Chapter Native Plant Society, with more than 1,000 plants. See
www.kfmb.org/home/going_green_matters_fair/.

April 5 -- Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s spring plant sale, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., 3220 Botanic Garden Boulevard, Fort Worth. Annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines, citrus and more. For information see www.fwbg.org/.

April 5 -- A little further afield, but worth a trip, is Stephen F. Austin State University’s Garden Gala Day plant sale from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. At the SFA Pinewoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St., Nacogdoches. (Hey, you’re on your way to East Texas anyway for Canton Trades Days and Tyler’s Azalea Trails, right?) See plant list at www.sfagardens.sfasu.edu/.

April 11-13 -- Heard Museum plant sale, Hear Natural Science Museum, 1 Nature Place, McKinney. Opens April 11 with pre-sale from 4-7 p.m. for members only, April 12 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., and April 13 from 1-5 p.m. Memberships are available at the sale, for those who want to take advantage of the members’ pre-sale. Information, including plant list, at www.heardmuseum.org/plantsale/.

April 25-27 -- Texas Discovery Gardens plant sale, with adapted and native plants, including butterfly attractors. Members preview sale 4-7 p.m. April 25, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. April 26-27. At Fair Park (tell parking attendants you’re here for the sale to get free parking), turn right past the gate and follow the signs to the back of the greenhouse. For plant list and more information, see http://texasdiscoverygardens.org/plant_sale.php/.

May 3 -- Native Plants & Prairies Day, Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake, 521 E. Lawther Dr., Dallas, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Includes information and plant sale by Dallas Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. See http://ntmn.org/.

And for more native plant sales across the state, visit http://npsot.org/.

(Next Friday -- how are the bluebonnets doing? I visit Ennis, the Official Bluebonnet City of Texas, for news about the blues.)

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