The Audubon Center for Native Plants at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve is growing.
A $15,000 grant from the Garden Club of Allegheny County will support expansion of the center, housed at the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania headquarters on Dorseyville Road in Fox Chapel.
Funding will play a key role in Audubon’s strategic plan to increase efficiency and strengthen long-term sustainability of the center, which opened in 2000.
Specifically, the grant will support the nursery manager in hiring staff to help with expanding capacity and improving systems that position the program for future growth.
The center, open from May to October, sells a variety of the more than 2,000 plants native to Pennsylvania. Examples include red maple trees, spicebush and perennials such as black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower and wild bergamot.
“For over 25 years, the Audubon Native Plant Center has supplied this community with hundreds of species cultivated from locally-harvested seed for the benefit of people, birds and wildlife,” Audubon Executive Director Chris Bason said. “An abundance and diversity of native plants is the basis of a healthy landscape that supports a variety of pollinators, birds and other wildlife.”
Bason said the group expects to sell at least 15,000 plants this year, up from 10,000 in 2022.
It demonstrates the demand for natives in the region, Bason said. Last year, the center was also supported by more than 900 volunteer hours of service.
“We are proud to both serve that demand and build it through our educational programs on why natives are so important,” he said.
Native plants are best for the environment because they adapted to local conditions and co-evolved with native birds and pollinators over thousands of years. They are low-maintenance and provide a safe place for birds to refuel. They also support healthy soil.
The Garden Club of Allegheny County, a member of The Garden Club of America, was founded in 1914. Members promote conservation, civic planning and public planting.
The club has donated more than $2 million in grants through its annual fundraiser, Pizzazz.
Brian Shema, Audubon operations director, said he is grateful for the support.
“We look forward to watching our nursery grow this season,” he said.
The native plant center has 1,200 square feet dedicated to the propagation of and education about native plants.
It features green building elements such as straw-bale insulation, radiant floor heating and full-spectrum glass skylights. About 40,000 square feet of space behind the facility was developed as outdoor nursery space.
It is a cornerstone of Audubon’s conservation work, connecting people with plants that support birds, pollinators and healthy ecosystems.
“Both Audubon and the Garden Club believe strongly in the benefits people and nature receive when native plants are cultivated in yards and parks,” Bason said. “Converting your garden to a thriving ecosystem based on our local plant life is a labor of love, a work of art and a splendid service to nature.
“As the landscape grows and more natives are added, inevitably more local birds and insects arrive year over year contributing to an evolving spectacle of regeneration.”
Each season, the native plant program propagates more than 200 species that supply more than 15,000 plants.
Bason said that nearly 1,000 people purchase plants during the center’s annual native plant sale. This year, it is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 9.
That day, plants are 20% off for Audubon members and 10% off for non-members.
For details about the native plant program, visit aswp.org.