On September 7, from 9 am until noon, at C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street, there will be a native plant sale with funds raised to benefit Protect Our Pollinators (POP).

POP is a local group started 14 years ago in Newtown to bring attention to the plight of pollinators through education and advocacy.

The purpose of this fundraiser is twofold. The first is to raise funds for the organization to use for educational programs, purchasing books for school libraries, and planting native gardens in Newtown. The sale will additionally make native plants easily obtainable in the community.

In addition to the plant sale, there will also be a raffle table with offerings from Eco59 and Earthtones Native Plant Nursery.

It is often difficult to find native plants in the area. Most nurseries either don’t sell them at all, or only sell cultivars. A cultivar, sometimes called a nativar, is a plant that is similar to native plants but has been changed by humans in some way. Changes can be in color, petal shape, size and form. Some of these changes make flower nectar inaccessible to pollinators or create a color they do not recognize. Not enough studies have been done on the quality of nectar and pollen to determine if these cultivars are good for pollinators, so sticking to natives or straight species is the best science. Earthtones in Woodbury, Tiny Meadow Farm in Danbury, and Eco 59 in Ridgefield are all nurseries that sell native plants.

POP’s plant offerings were started in January 2023 from locally sourced seeds, most from Eco59. They will be perfect to plant in beds this fall, and they will be ready to bloom next spring and summer. Fall is the best time to plant native plants because the heat is not as intense as the spring and summer months.

The sale will offer goldenrods, ironweed and asters, all wonderful fall blooming plants.

There will also be Purple Top Tridens grass, a host plant to skipper butterflies, and many others.

The sale will be conducted rain or shine. Visit propollinators.org for additional information.