Spring Native Plant Sale

Native Plants are more than pretty flowers.

Native plants are more than pretty flowers. The nutritious pollen and nectar of native wildflowers attract butterflies and pollinators. The leafy green growth of native plants is a snack for insect herbivores. Songbirds flutter about native plants as they feed on insects and seeds. Native plants reconnect your yard to the ecosystem as evidenced by the flurry of activity surrounding them.

Whether adding a new wildflower to your pollinator garden or trying to incorporate native plants into your yard for the first time, HeartLands Conservancy’s 2022 Online Native Plant Sale has the plant for you. This year, we are offering over 50 native wildflower species, 11 native shrubs, and 5 native trees. Our 2022 Online Native Plant Sale brochure (on page 26) has detailed information about light and soil requirements, bloom color, and period of each plant. For more information visit the Native Plant Sale page under the news and events tab at HeartLandsConservancy.org

Important dates:

• Mar 20, 2022 - Online sale starts • April 14, 2022 - Online sale closes • April 30, 2022 - Pick up plants at Swansea Clinton Hills Conservation Park

SPRING NATIVE PLANT SALE

OPEN NOW

Botanical Names Demystified

Let’s face it; scientific names are hard to remember. Professional botanists smushed together words from ancient languages, proper nouns, and plant descriptions to create a name unique to a plant species. While common names can vary across regions, scientific names are distinct to a given plant species. For example, Coreopsis palmata is called prairie coreopsis in Illinois but is called tickseed in Missouri. So like it or not, scientific names are here to stay. Here are five explanations of scientific names to help make botanical names easier to remember (and a little fun).

wild columbine

Common Name: wild columbine

Scientific Name: Aquilegia canadensis

Definitions: Aquilegia means eagle’s claw and refers to the spur on the back of the flowers.

Canadensis means the species was originally described in Canada. Columbine refers to the spur of the flower resembling the silhouette of a dove.

prairie coreopsis

Common Name: prairie coreopsis or tickseed

Scientific Name: Coreopsis palmata

Definitions: Coreopsis is ancient Greek for resembling a tick in reference to the tick-like appearance of the mature seeds.

Palmata is a reference to the leaves resembling an outstretched hand.

Missouri evening primrose

Common Name: Missouri evening primrose

Scientific Name: Oenothera macrocarpa

Definitions: Oenothera refers to the wine-scented flowers.

Macrocarpa describes the two- to three-inch seed pods produced by this species. flower-visiting insects in history Common Name: swamp or rose and remain essential pollinators milkweed today. Beetles are attracted mostly Scientific Name: Asclepias to flowers that emit musky, yeasty, incarnata spicy, rotten, or fermented odors. Definitions: Asclepias is They can be clumsy so they prefer derived from an ancient Greek, Aesculapius, who was known for sturdy, large flowers, clusters of his knowledge of the medicinal flowers, and large cup shaped properties of plants. flowers that are easy for them to Incarnata describes flesh-colored access. Magnolias and spicebush flowers. are a couple of the most common beetle-pollinated plants, they also like pond lilies and goldenrods.

Moths

In the state of Illinois alone there are more than 1,850 known species of moths—more than ten times the diversity of butterflies. Recent research from University College London, shows that moths are likely major players in many pollination networks. UCL researchers determined moths transported pollen, mostly on their hairy bellies, Common Name: purple coneflower from many different plant species, Scientific Name: Echinacea including flowers that picky bees skip purpurea over. It is important to note that not Definitions: Echinacea translates all moths are nocturnal.to “hedgehog” in reference to the prickly flower head.

Purpurea, believe it or not, means purple.

purple coneflower

As the frigid winter winds pass and the unpredictable temperature

W W W . H E A R T L A N D S C O N S E R V A N C Y . O R G

NATIVE PLANT SALE

M A R C H 2 0 - A P R I L 1 4

Asclepias incarnata | Swamp milkweed Spigelia marilandica | Indian pink Mertensia virginica | Virginia bluebells

O R D E R P I C K U P

A P R I L 3 0 S C A N T H I S Q R C O D E T O G O D I R E C T L Y T O O U R S T O R E !

O W N R D E O R

c l o v e r p r a i r i e p u r p l e | p u p e r e a D a l e a p i n k I n d i a n | m a r i l a n d i c a S p i g e l i a

m a s t e r r a t t l e s n a k e | y u c c i f o l i u m E r y n g i u m

m a l l o w r o s e | l a s i o c a r p o s H i b i s c u s p r i c k l y p e a r | h u m i f u s O p t u n i a s t a r b l a z i n g p r a i r i e | p y c n o s t a c h y a L i a t r i s

Support MEMBERSHIP

Land. Water. Communities.

As a member of HeartLands Conservancy, you provide support for the preservation of open spaces and special places where people live and work in southwestern Illinois.

Most importantly, you ’ll become part of a diverse community of people, businesses, and organizations who treasure southwestern Illinois and who are working together so that our region will always be a place of beauty and natural life.

The benefits of membership include:

Subscription to our quarterly member magazine, Meanderings

Special invitations to hikes, treks, trail and preserve openings, and other events

Discounts on classes, plant sales, and events

Discounts on Conservation@Home Certification

Ability to borrow tools from our conservation tool library

Opportunities to meet with other individuals from throughout Southwestern Illinois who share a passion for conservation and our region ’ s special places

Donation membership levels from $50 (Acorn) to $10,000+ (Bur Oak). Show your support today.