By JUNO OGLE
Employees of the daily press
The Gila Native Plant Society’s annual weekend sale helped the environment in many ways.
There’s the obvious reason: to encourage people to plant their landscapes with native plants to help protect the environment. But the event also supports local businesses and the broader efforts of a nonprofit that helps bats and other animals.
A large crowd looked at the offerings of the five longtime dealers at the sale held Saturday morning at the corner of 12th and Pope streets. At least some of those people also shopped at the nearby Silver City Farmers Market and then walked across the street to Gough Park, where the Knights of Columbus were hosting a car show.
Amy McLane was prepared for this year’s sale and brought a small cart for her plant purchases.
“Last year I didn’t have a car with me and I regretted it,” she said.
About an hour after the sale opened, it was filled with desert willow, clematis, Virginia creeper and other plants. She said she has a three-quarter-acre plot that she has been working on for the past few years.
“My goal is to have a garden that doesn’t need a lot of water, because water is a scarce resource,” McLane said. “Native plants that are used to this climate don’t need to be coddled like many non-native plants.”
She said she also likes to support local growers. This year’s Grant County vendors included Whiskey Creek Zócalo, Lone Mountain Natives and Honey Hawk Homestead. Two Arizona vendors also represented at the sale: Spadefoot Nursery and Gila Watershed Partnership.
Margie Gibson, president of the Gila Native Plant Society, said the society does not make money from the sale but holds it every year to help promote native plants.
The providers are always willing to share their expertise, she said.
“That’s one of the great things,” Gibson said. “You can tell them about the conditions in your garden and then ask them if that plant will do well.”
The Gila Watershed Partnership, based in Safford, Arizona, is participating in the sale to support its primary mission of riparian restoration.
Jennifer Farris works in the group’s greenhouse and said many of the plants grown are for restoration purposes, but they also grow native plants specifically for sale and to support the organization.
They also grow a lot of agaves for Bat Conservation International, a group that has partnered with the Gila Native Plant Society.
“Most of these agaves are used to replant migratory routes for the lesser long-nosed bats and also for monarch butterflies. They are a wonderful pollinator plant, especially for nocturnal pollinators like bats,” said Farris. “We are currently growing about 3,000 agaves.”
The nonprofit organization has been around for about 33 years, says Steve Plath, the group’s kindergarten teacher.
“It started as an organization to help farmers and other landowners solve water problems on their property,” he said. “It has evolved into a conservation organization. We do restoration work on the river, removing salt cedars and replanting them with native riparian vegetation.”
Plath said he has a particular passion for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
“As a child, I was totally fixated on animals – but I realized that there was no point if there was no habitat,” he says. “That made me pay attention to plants. For me, that’s the bigger picture of ecology, the interactions between plants and animals. That’s what turns me on, what turns me on.”
Plath said that urban planting is becoming increasingly important due to the progressive impacts of climate change on the ecology.
“In drought years, urban areas become refuges for animals and butterflies because gardens are what sustain wildlife – especially migratory insects and birds,” he said. “In fact, it is our urban areas that can be critical for the migration of some animals.
“Even if you just put a few locals in there,” Plath continued, “it will help. You don’t have to fill your garden wall to wall with locals.”
Juno Ogle can be reached at juno@scdaily press.com.