Native Plant Sale Dates: March 21-May 5
Jump to the “How-to-order” section!
Make your garden a beautiful, vibrant landscape while supporting birds, bees, butterflies, and other native wildlife! Gardening with native plants is a wonderful way to decrease water and nutrient usage, create environments with plants that bloom throughout the seasons, and provide critical resources to winged, crawling, and hopping wildlife.
This spring, when you order native plants through our special Native Plant Sale with Johnson’s Nursery out of Menomonee Falls, you get native plants delivered to Middleton, WI in May AND 15% of the sale totals go to Holy Wisdom Monastery and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (split 50/50).
That is a big win, all around!
You get native plants — native wildlife get extra benefits from your yard — a Wisconsin-based nursery gets sales — two non-profits make a little extra money to support habitat restoration and conservation.
American Goldfinch and purple coneflower, photo by Chad Horwedel
How does this sale work?
Order your plants using the special section of Johnson’s Nursery’s website, and the plants will be delivered to Middleton on May 10. You pick them up from Middleton, and take them home to plant!
You may notice Johnson’s Nusery’s prices are a bit higher than some other nurseries, but it’s for good reason. Johnson's Nursery sells its plants at larger sizes with more highly developed root systems than plugs. This means the plants require less water, better resist pest damage, and often flower within the first year. Plus you'll need fewer of them—Johnson's recommends 1 plant per 2-3 square feet for perennials.
March 21-May 5, visit the Johnson Nursery special plant sale website: https://shop.jniplants.com/
Pick out which plants you want to purchase, add them to your cart, and check out.
Enter your shipping address. After that is entered, you will have the option to select the Holy Wisdom Monastery pick up location on May 10. Be sure to choose the Holy Wisdom Monastery pick up option to make sure the plants get to the right place and organizers get credit for the sales.
Watch for communications about the plan for picking up your plants on Friday, May 10 from Holy Wisdom Monastery (4200 Co Hwy M, Middleton).
Take them home, plant them, and enjoy knowing you are doing something good for native wildlife!
Painted lady butterfly on Joe Pye weed. Photo by Amy Anderson
Why Garden with Native Plants?
Native birds and wildlife have evolved with native plants, making the timing of their blooming and nutrient availability ideally lined up.
Some native critters like monarch butterflies and Karner blue butterflies rely on native plants to lay eggs and raise their young. Plants like milkweeds and lupines are essential for these species to reproduce!
Native plants are accustomed to Wisconsin’s heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, and dry periods. That means once plants are established, you don’t have to baby them year to year, and they mostly take care of themselves. Less water, less fertilizing, and less fussing!
Native plants support soil health and biodiversity in soil microbes, filter water effectively and efficiently, and prevent erosion.
This native plant sale is coordinated by SOS Save Our Songbirds, Holy Wisdom Monastery, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, and Johnson’s Nursery.
Cover photo: A native garden including purple prairie clover, purple coneflower, and yellow coneflower, by Courtney Celley/USFWS
