NATIVE PLANT CENTER CELEBRATES GARDEN CONSERVANCY OPEN DAYS WITH FREE GUIDED TOURS AND TREE PLANTING ON JULY 25

Want to find out how to attract more birds, butterflies and other native wildlife to your garden? A visit to The Native Plant Center’s demonstration gardens at Westchester Community College in Valhalla on Sunday, July 25 can get you started.

As part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program, volunteer guides will lead visitors on free tours through The Lady Bird Johnson Demonstration Garden, the Stone Cottage Garden and the Rain Garden at the college from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. These gardens contain plants that are primarily indigenous to the northeastern United States and strike a balanced between formal and naturalistic planting designs. Experts will be on hand to answer questions about your home landscape.

The Native Plant Center and Westchester Community College extend their thanks to Shemin Nurseries Inc. for the generous donation of a large specimen tree that will be planted on the college campus to commemorate the Garden Conservancy Open Day. Visitors are invited to participate in the official tree-planting ceremony that will take place at 1:00 p.m.

The Native Plant Center is dedicated to educating individuals about the importance of wildflowers and native plants of the Northeast. As the first national affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas, the college’s Center is extending the educational and environmental concepts of the Texas Center to this region. It shares information on choosing, growing, and maintaining native plants and offers lectures by native plant experts. Its mission is education on the environmental necessity, economic value, and natural beauty of native plants in the Northeast.

The Native Plant Center is a project of the Westchester Community College Foundation. For information on Native Plant Center events, see the web site at www.nativeplantcenter.org or phone 914-606-7870. For details about the Garden Conservancy and its programs, phone 845-265-5384.