FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Huan Song, Director of Communications,
hsong@openlands.org, 312-863-6153
Yamys Urbano Valencia, PR and Communications Associate
yurbano@openlands.org, 312-863-6287/415 712-5427
In partnership with Possibility Place, the sale offers a wide variety of native plants to choose from online, shipped free and directly to your door beginning March 1.
CHICAGO (March 1, 2023)- Openlands will commence its annual, Native Tree and Plant Sale on March 1, 2023. Shoppers can choose from a beautiful selection of native plants that, in addition to absorbing rainwater, cleaning the air, and beautifying properties, provide vital habitat for pollinators and wildlife. Not often found in big-box stores, this wide variety of native plants offered through Openlands’ sale can be ordered online, shipped for free and directly to your door.
Online orders will be accepted starting March 1 at openlands.org/plantsale. Selections will vary based on season and availability. Supplies are limited and will be restocked throughout the year. All orders have free shipping and come with care instructions.
Planting natives is a conservation-friendly way for individuals to beautify their landscape while restoring the Chicago region’s biodiversity. Native trees and plants provide essential habitat to birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Native flowers like milkweed not only provide nectar for pollinators, they only food source for the monarch caterpillar, which is why it is so critical to the monarch’s survival. Native trees like oaks provide food for many butterflies and moths and other creatures. Native plants can also help make properties more climate-resilient, as trees and many other native plants create shade, cool the air, act as a sponge to absorb rainwater, and store large amounts of carbon for many years.
“This sale has such a significant impact on Openlands’ mission, allowing so many people to volunteer as advocates for nature as they participate in direct, on-the-ground improvements in support of climate change and biodiversity” said Sarah Surroz, director of Lake County Programs for Openlands.
For Lake County, IL residents, Openlands offers on-site consultations with a landscape ecologist through the Lands in Harmony program. Visit Openlands’ website to schedule an appointment.
Openlands Landscape Ecologist, Mary Fortmann, says the plants sell quickly, and new plants are added throughout the season. On this occasion, Openlands will offer a wide variety of plants, including trees, shrubs, perennial flowers, grasses, sedges, and ferns. Milkweeds and shade loving plants are always the most sought-after.
“I’ve shopped the local native plant sales for the past ten years and love adding new native species every year. One year I planted some royal catchfly in May, before the plant even flowered. I had no sooner planted the royal catchfly when a hummingbird buzzed by to check out the plant. It is so true that if you plant it, they will come,” said Fortmann.
Many of the birds, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife need native plants to survive; their populations are decreasing because there are very few native plants today. These species cannot survive only with European and Asian plants that cover much of our suburban landscape. They need plants native to this region due to the intricately synchronized rhythms of pollination, migration, seed dispersion and the change of seasons. Your native plants will help our wildlife and connect habitats between our remaining natural areas.
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