Interested in learning how to grow your own native plants?  Betsy Lennon and Susan Ricercato will provide participating gardeners with the materials and information needed to winter sow native plants. Gardeners will sow seeds into a gallon milk jug and will be provided with instructions for winter care, transplanting, summer care, and fall planting. Gardeners will be provided with seeds to take home for additional sowing. 

Free and open to the public. Space is limited and registration is required. Register below or contact the library for assistance. Before registering, please review the list of required items and other information below.

For this session, participants will need:

• One empty and well-rinsed 1-gallon clear/translucent milk jug (please bring one with you; these will not be provided)
• Gardening gloves (optional)
• An outdoor place to store the milk jug over the winter

Gardeners will be provided with an overview of the propagation process: seed collection/purchasing, seed cleaning, winter sowing, transplanting into pots, summer care, and fall planting of seedlings.

Gardeners will be provided with links to websites that will provide information:

• How to hold the jugs over the winter and transplant the seedlings from the jugs to pots
• How to grow the seedlings over the summer and plant the seedlings into the ground 
• Gardening guides for plants native to Rhode Island

Betsy Lennon and Susan Ricercato are Master Gardeners and members of the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society.  They have been working with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for several years to create and maintain native plant gardens at Kettle Pond, Trustom Pond, and Sachuest Point.  They have worked with habitat restoration teams to propagate and plant thousands of native plants at wildlife refuges, schools, and public parks throughout Rhode Island.