This month, the Camden Garden Club celebrates sustainable gardens during Maine’s inaugural Native Plant Month. Governor Janet Mills has proclaimed April Native Plant Month in response to the Club’s combined efforts with like minded organizations across the state. This month, the Club celebrates its long and ongoing history of sustainability accomplishments related to its mission of conserving natural resources, including its advocacy for native plants.

The Club’s long-standing Conservation Pledge charges members to protect and conserve natural resources, promote education, and become caretakers of our air, water, forest, and wildlife.

*Native bumblebees feeding on native coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) in a garden on the 2021 Camden Garden Club Annual Garden Tour. Photo courtesy of Camden Garden Club.*

Maine is home to 1,466 native plant species including large shade trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, grasses, and wildflowers. About 352 species are listed as endangered, threatened, of special concern, or possibly extirpated.

Maine's native plants are invaluable to pollinators, wildlife, the economy, and the health and sustainability of Maine's fragile ecosystems. Native plants provide food such as nectar, pollen, seeds, and foliage for native birds, caterpillars, butterflies, bees, and other wildlife in ways that non-native plants cannot.

The Club supports Governor Mills in encouraging Mainers to “...recognize the importance of native plants to Maine’s rich biological heritage.” – Governor Janet Mills, Maine Native Plant Month Proclamation, 2023

A native endangered monarch butterfly feeding on bright purple native liatris also known as gayfeather or dense blazing star (Liatris spicata) in a garden in the 2022 Camden Garden Club Annual Garden Tour. Photo courtesy of Camden Garden Club.

The Club’s upcoming 75th Annual Garden Tour will take place July 20 and features a modern emphasis on sustainable horticulture and native plantings. The event is the Club’s largest annual event and fundraiser. Several gardens will again incorporate native plant species into the design as they have in years past.

The Tour is no stranger to sustainable gardening. Last year’s Tour featured a garden on High Street with a hügel, a mound of rotting logs and plant debris that decays to create a rich environment ideal for low-impact gardening. Hügelkultur (pronounced Who-gul-CUL-ture) is a German centuries-old permaculture technique to create sustainable self-sustaining gardens by generating healthy, rich soil using hügels, or mounds.

A water garden like this one from the 2021 Camden Garden Club Annual Garden Tour can incorporate native shade plants such as waterlilies, ferns, mosses, and cattails. Pictured in the foreground is native hayscented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula). Photo courtesy of Camden Garden Club.

This spring, the Club will create Camden’s very first native plant pollinator garden in an untended bed in front of the Camden post office downtown. Affectionately called the “Postage Stamp” Garden, the community resource and teaching tool is made possible by a Plant America Grant from National Garden Clubs, Inc. which has named April Plant America Month to honor sustainable gardening.

An unused bed in front of the Camden Post Office will soon be a native plant pollinator demonstration thanks to a Plant America Grant received by the Camden Garden Club from National Garden Clubs Inc. Photo courtesy of Camden Garden Club.

The Club’s decades-long Shade Tree Program has planted more than 1,472 trees in Camden in its 55 year history, including high-value native species. This year, 75% of the trees ordered by Camden homeowners for installation are native species. The Club plans to be able to fulfill all orders.

Whether you celebrate Earth Day, Arbor Day, or Earth Month, please join the Camden Garden Club in embracing native plants and sustainable gardening and caring for our planet together.

2018 Camden Garden Club Annual Garden Tour guests enjoy a garden that incorporates native plants, including liatris or blazing star. Pictured in bright purple in the foreground and background is native dense blazing star (Liatris spicata). Photo courtesy of Camden Garden Club.

The Camden Garden Club’s 75th Annual Garden Tour is made possible by the generous support of the Maine Office of Tourism. Visit VisitMaine.com for additional statewide information.

The oldest garden club in Maine, the Camden Garden Club cultivates the art of gardening to its fullest sense, develops and preserves beauty in and around Camden, and promotes civic improvements, education, and conservation of natural resources. The Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs. More at camdengardenclub.org.