Extension Master Gardener spring plant sale showcasing new plants in Wilmington
It’s an educational experience for the gardener in you – the annual Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Spring Plant Sale is scheduled for April 11-14, at the New Hanover County Arboretum, 6206 Oleander Drive in Wilmington.
This year’s sale will offer approximately 2,500 perennial plants grown from plugs, bare root, seeds, divisions, and cuttings – a team of EMGs worked in our greenhouse all winter to grow these beauties just for you! Some new offerings this year include Papyrus (Dwarf Form), a heat tolerant vigorous grower with a compact habit, offering a striking effect for water gardens or damp areas. The Craspedia globosa ‘Golf Beauty’ produces a profusion of golden yellow flowers resembling golf balls, blooming all summer in the full sun.
The groundcover perennial Leptinella ‘Platt’s Black’ has tiny fern-like, smoky bronze-purple foliage with hints of green for full sun to part shade; perfect to use around stepping-stones. The ornamental strawberry Fragaria ‘Lipstick’ exhibits deep rose red flowers and grows to 1’ high and wide, great for edging and rock gardens. The blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium ‘Moody Blues’ is a perennial with brilliant violet blue blooms adorned with yellow eyes cheerfully hang above the grass-like foliage.
Various Ferns, Hosta, Heuchera and Helleborus are perennial plants available to enhance the “woodland” look of your home landscape. The unique flowers of Red-Hot Poker, Coreopsis, Bee Balm, Columbine, Indian Pink, and Brindabella Rose will round out your perennial flower garden display.
For specimen trees, 45 different varieties of Japanese Maples will be available for purchase, priced between $20 and $200. The selection includes all the “standards” as well as 10 new selections.
Some herbs for sale this year include several Basil varieties: Genovese, Italian Large Leaf, and Wild Magic. A Scented Geranium ‘Angels Perfume’ is an annual Pelargonium with gorgeous burgundy blooms & ruffled, lemon-scented foliage. Spanish Lavender ’Silver Anouk’ is a perennial with stunning silver foliage and unusual violet flowers. The Oregano Thyme, Thymus vulgaris has leaves which taste a little like both oregano and thyme. This evergreen perennial has showy spikes of soft pink flowers from early to mid-summer. For the vegetable gardener, several tomato varieties range in color, fruit size and plant habit.
The native plant selection was started in September with plugs and woody plants that our dedicated volunteers potted. With about 3000 plants in the sale inventory, you’ll find the right plants for sunny beds, rain gardens and creek-side. Many of these plants can serve as larval hosts for moths and butterflies. Some special “hard-to-find plants” for sunny borders include Ox-eye Sunflower, Southern Sundrops, Southern lupine, and Ironweed. Some native groundcover options available are Plantain Pussytoes, Wild Pink and Golden Ragwort. Natives for rain gardens include some Sedges, Loosestrife and Ferns. Native woody shrubs are Buttonbush, Silky Dogwood, and Blackhaw.
We hope to see you at the sale, April 11–13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and April 14 from noon to 4 p.m.
Lloyd Singleton serves as the director of N.C. Cooperative Extension – New Hanover County Center and Arboretum. He can be reached at 910-798-7660 or lsingleton@nhggov.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Extension Master Gardener spring plant sale in Wilmington, NC
