Join us on Saturday, June 6, 9 to 11 a.m. on the Library Lawn for our biennial Plant Sale benefitting Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library’s annual operating fund. Remember: the early birds get the worms, so come early!

This year’s sale will primarily feature plants native to New England or at a minimum to North America. Native plants offer essential habitat for the butterflies, pollinators, and birds we love. They also help to protect our precious watersheds and they aren’t as needy as cultivars. Native plants need less water, less tending, and can better withstand our climate’s sometimes extreme weather. The sale will also offer veggies and herbs for your edible garden, as well as some non-natives such as daylilies and hostas.

If you are wondering whether a plant you would like to donate is native, the University of Maine cooperative extension service is an excellent source for native plant information (https://extension.umaine.edu/gardening/). The cooperative extension website also has a lot of good information on the reasons to plant more native plants and how to safely transplant and share plants. Of course, BHML has some excellent books on the subject, too.

A note on plant donations: We are working hard to ensure that no plants sold at our Plant Sale will contain invasives. To support this effort, we are limiting all transplanted plant donations to donors who have agreed to follow best practices, including:

● Cleaning pots

● Bare-rooting and rinsing transplants

● Planting all transplants in purchased bagged soil

If you are interested in donating plants to our sale and need potting soil, please contact Liz Lussier at LizLussier@outlook.com.

We are also accepting vegetable, flower, and herb seedlings started in bagged potting soil. Donation drop-offs are welcome during set up on Friday, June 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Rain location: Boothbay Harbor Fire Hall, across from the Library’s parking lot at 11 Howard Street.