Native Plant Sales & Nursery Events


HGCNY’s Fall Native Plant Sale is September 26 & 27, 2026.

For more information, click here.


Please Note: The Native Plant Sales and Nursery Events Listed Below Are Not Run by Wild Ones HGCNY


Below Are Two Types of Events: Upcoming Events and Weekly Events.


🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃 Upcoming Events 🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃


July 11, 2026

Native Garden Design Workshop with Brandon Hoak at Grow Wild!

When: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday, July 11, 2026

Where: Grow Wild!, 245 Speed Hill Rd, Brooktondale NY, 14817

Description: We are so excited that Brandon Hoak is back in Ithaca for a while after recently graduating from Yale with a Master’s degree of Environmental Management (MEM) with a focus in People, Equity, and the Environment (PE2)

Brandon was part of the Grow Wild team almost from the moment it started and is responsible for the Grow Wild! logo and too many ideas to mention here. Let’s just say, I owe Brandon so much for his generous and abundant support and encouragement these past five years as this little, but mighty, plant nursery got its start.

One of Brandon’s generous contributions was a Garden Design Workshop he led last season, which was very popular. I’m delighted that he has agreed to do one again this season.

Once you sign up you will get more information on how you should prepare for the workshop.

Fee $50

Fee refunded after workshop for Grow Wild! plants or towards the cost of a personal consultation on your property with Brandon during this gardening season

Registration Required

This event is limited to 15 people.  If you’d like to attend this event, please register by emailing [email protected]

Links: https://www.growwildnatives.com/event-template


July 31 to August 2, 2026

Pollinator Palooza at Amanda’s Native Garden

When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, July 31 to August 2, 2026

Where: Amanda’s Native Garden, 8030 Story Rd, Dansville, NY 14437

Description: Join us for our summer celebration of pollinators! Pollinator Palooza will feature pollinator-friendly plants at a discount, information on native plants & pollinators, kid’s activities, and games for a prize!

Native plants support birds, bees, butterflies and other insects that are critical for a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem. At Amanda’s Native Garden we have a variety of plants that are host to native insect species.

Link: https://www.amandasnativeplants.com/events


August 1, 2026

Night Walk with Ash Ferilito and Guy Mott at Grow Wild!

When: 9 p.m. to 12 a.m., Saturday, August 1, 2026

Where: Grow Wild!, 245 Speed Hill Rd, Brooktondale NY, 14817

Inspirational Book Connection: Night Magic by Leigh Ann Henion

Description: Come join us as we welcome Ash Ferlito back to lead a Night Walk on the Grow Wild! land focusing on moths and helping us identify what comes to the mothing stations.

Guy Mott, will be be ready to focus on the night sky pointing out constellations and other night sky wonders.

Along with the walk and sky viewing we”ll be hanging out at the fire circle to talk about what we enjoy about being out in nature at night. Fireflies and a lovely moon are planning to join us as well. I hope you can join us, too.

Ash Ferlito is an artist whose practice emerges from deep engagement with the natural world, particularly through the observation of moths and birds. Her multidisciplinary work—spanning painting, sculpture, printmaking, and experimental rewilding gardening—invites wonder, reorients perception, and proposes new ways of gathering and seeing.

Central to her practice are mothing events, where she constructs sculptural stations illuminated by specialized lights to attract nocturnal insects. Ferlito records the moths and other species that appear. The project serves dual purposes—celebrating biodiversity through communal observation while generating raw material for her standalone paintings and cyanotype prints, which preserve the insects’ ephemeral arrangements as ethereal, constellation-like impressions.

Guy Mott is an amateur astronomer and lifetime sky watcher. He likes to understand what we’re looking at when we look overhead and finds much pleasure in sharing stories of our sky and nighttime phenomena.

Links: https://www.growwildnatives.com/event-template


September 19, 2026

4th Annual Native Plant Festival & Sale at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge

When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, September 19, 2026

Where: Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, 3395 US Route 20, Seneca Falls, NY 13148

Description: Fall is an excellent time to plant native trees, shrubs and perennials so please join us for fun, food and flowers at the 4 th annual Grow Native! Native Plant Festival and Sale. Come early (9 am) for a guided nature walk with New York State Master Naturalist Volunteer, Pete Saracino, and stay for our special guest speakers: Janice Wiles from Go Native! Perennials, John Price from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank and Brian Hoven, Assistant Professor of Biology at SUNY Geneseo.

Learn how to create and manage habitats, meadows and native gardens and collect native seeds responsibly while getting updates on NY State’s native seed supply chain. Investigate the many ways invasive species get established and affect native ecosystems. Join our native pollinator expert from SUNY ESF Bee Campus, Jake Keller, for a bug sweep around the marsh or duck into the tent for a Plant Propagation Workshop with Krissy Boys from Finger Lakes Native Plant Society. Don’t forget to stop by for a chat with our own Wildlife Biologist, Linda Ziemba. Visit native plant vendors and artisans throughout the day. Enjoy wine tasting from Montezuma Winery and lunch from the Big Awesome BBQ Food Truck while listening to the tunes of the Amy Lynn Band. Follow it up with ice cream from Cayuga Lake Creamery and end your day with a birding adventure on the Wildlife Drive with Audubon Environmental Educator, Fred Leff. This fall take a walk on the wild side and enjoy a fun-filled “day of discovery” at the Refuge!

“Come for the flowers, stay for the fun!”

Hosted by: The Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex

Native Plant Nurseries:

  • Grow Wild Nursery (Brooktondale, NY)
  • Amanda’s Native Garden (Dansville, NY)
  • Spicebush Swallowtail Native Plants (Pittsford, NY)
  • Cornell Botanic Gardens (Ithaca, NY)
  • Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm (Mexico, NY)

Link: https://friendsofmontezuma.org/guided-walks-may-2026-2/


October 2026

Meadow Restoration Annual Tarp Moving, Seeding, & Chili Eating with Deanna English at Grow Wild!

When: 10 a.m. to whenever, TBD

Where: Grow Wild!, 245 Speed Hill Rd, Brooktondale NY, 14817

Inspirational Book Connection: The Bad Naturalist a memoir by Paula Whyman

Description: Each season we expand the meadow project by moving the existing tarp that has been in place since the previous year, take a break to have a vegetarian chili lunch and then return to seed the exposed soil with native plant seeds. This year will be the 8th time moving the tarp, which covers approximately 5000sf.

You may have seen the meadow on one of your visits or been on a meadow tour. Now you can be part of the rewilding of a 100+ year old agricultural field. Please join us and help in this yearly event.

Registration Required

This event is limited to 8 people.  If you’d like to attend this event, please register by emailing [email protected]

Links: https://www.growwildnatives.com/event-template


🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁 Weekly Events 🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁


Wednesdays

May 8 to October 28, 2026

ReWilders at Go Native! Perennials

When: 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays, May 6 to October 28, 2026

Where: Go Native! Perennials, 1686 NY-321, Elbridge, NY, 13060

Description: Join Us: We are the ReWilders.

Come join us on Wednesday mornings 8:30-10:30 from May 6-October 28 to learn about native plants, why they are key to our lives and health, how to grow and rewild with them.  Come when you can, stay as long as you wish.  Take a plant or two home with you.

Links: https://gonativeperennials.com/


About Our Plant Sales

Looking to add more native plants to your landscape? HGCNY’s spring and fall native plant sales make it easy to bring more beauty and life to your yard. Plants are supplied by the native plant nurseries highlighted in our free Native Plant Shopping Guide. And if you can’t make one of our sales, those same nurseries offer native plants throughout the season.


2026 Fall Plant Sale: September 26 & 27

WHERE: Westvale (Syracuse), NY – please see our upcoming August Newsletter or Contact Us for the address.

WHEN: Saturday, September 26, 2026, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm & Sunday, September 27, 2026, 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm

This fall we’re having a browse-about sale as well as our tree and shrub pre-order.

We will pre-order trees and shrubs from White Oak Nursery through September 20, 2026. Use this list to see which native trees and shrubs White Oak Nursery offers. Please see our upcoming August Newsletter for details on submitting an order.

Please note: payments accepted for the plant sale are limited to cash or check.

Why plant in the fall? Click here to learn more about why fall is a great time to plant native perennials, grasses, trees, and shrubs.


Plants You MAY Find at Our Plant Sale

Photos provided by HGCNY President, Janet Allen’s website; OurHabitatGarden.org

Allium cernuum – Nodding Onion
Aquilegia canadensis – Easter Red Columbine
Asclepias incarnata – Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly Milkweed
Carex appalachica – Appalachian Sedge
Dodecathion meadia – Shooting Star
Eupatorium purpureum – Sweet Joe Pye Weed
Gentiana andrewsii – Bottle Gentian
Geum triflorum – Prairie Smoke
Helenium autumnale – Sneezeweed
Heliopsis helianthoides – False/Oxeye Sunflower
Lobelia siphilitica – Great Blue Lobelia
Monarda didyma – Red Bee Balm
Monarda fistulosa – Wild Bergamot
Pycnanthemum muticum – Clustered Mountain Mint
Penstemon hirsutus – Hairy Penstemon
Rudbeckia laciniata – Cutleaf Coneflower
Rudbeckia triloba – Brown-eyed Susan
Schizachyrium scoparium – Little Bluestem
Solidago sempervirens – Seaside Goldenrod
Symphyotrichum laeve – Smooth Aster
Symphyotrichum novae-angliaeNew England Aster
Verbena hastata – Blue Vervain
Zizia aurea – Golden Alexanders

Why a Fall Plant Sale?

Annual fall plant sale
Annual fall plant sale

Our major plant sale has always been in the fall, generally on the first or second Saturday and Sunday of September.

This may seem odd to traditional gardeners who see spring as planting time. This is probably because so many plants for conventional landscaping are annual bedding plants, such as petunias or marigolds. These non-native annuals are planted in the spring and discarded in the fall, often replaced by fall non-native ornamentals, such as mums.

But fall is a great planting time for plants that are meant to be part of a rich, diverse, living landscape that supports life: native herbaceous perennials, grasses, vines, trees, and shrubs. Cooler temperatures and naturally moist soil allow plants to focus on establishing their roots before winter, giving them a head start when spring arrives.

Of course, this plant sale is a major fundraiser, enabling HGCNY to pay for our winter presentations and to fund our free newsletter. But our primary purpose is to get native plants planted in CNY landscapes, which was previously difficult because there were very few local nurseries that carried native plants. Fortunately, this is changing, and we welcome an increasing number of new native plant nurseries!

Another purpose of our sale is to support native plant nurseries in the general CNY region. Since these nurseries may be too far away for people to visit for just a few plants, we bring them here to Syracuse on consignment. We’ve had great partnerships, beneficial to HGCNY, to the nurseries, and to the wildlife that depends on native plants.

We’ve learned over the years that this two-day event is also a wonderful educational opportunity, with our members talking with people about plants, making recommendations, and just getting to know fellow CNYers who want their landscapes supporting life. And we host the sale at Our Habitat Garden, so people can see what many of the plants will look like when they mature.


Changes from Past Sales

Our plant sale has evolved over time as we have learned more about how to support native biodiversity and protect our local ecosystems.

In the past, we included common cultivars (i.e. “named” varieties) of native plants, but we support the Wild Ones position that some of these “nativars” don’t offer the habitat and ecological benefits of the species — and none of the genetic diversity — so we no longer include nativars.

Sadly, we no longer invite our members to donate their native plants to the sale due to our concern about spreading non-native earthworms, especially the Asian jumping worms. They are indeed in Central NY!! (See Our Habitat Garden’s Earthworm page for more information.)

NOTE: Plants from nurseries are not guaranteed to be free of jumping worms either, but we’re trusting that they are more aware and knowledgeable about preventing them. We strongly urge people to check any plants they buy or receive from other people!