Pascagoula River Audubon Center celebrates Native Plant Appreciation Week

Earlier this evening, many gathered at the Pascagoula River Audubon Center to celebrate Earth Day and Native Plant Appreciation Week.

The Earth Day after-hours event featured live music, arts and crafts, and a presentation of ‘Native Plant Appreciation Week’ proclamations from the City of Moss Point, Jackson County, and the state House and Senate.

Native plants are plants that have evolved over thousands of years to live and thrive in our area. As the plants evolved, so did the insects, providing more food for birds.

For the last three years, the Audubon Center has been promoting and selling native plants to help increase the food supply for birds on the Gulf Coast. Pascagoula River Audubon Center Education Manager Katie Walsh Fetzer said, “Some easy things to do to put more native plants in your community is just start in your backyard. Even if you don’t have a backyard, if you have a patio or if you have a container garden, having native plants brings beauty, provides food for birds in the fall and winter, and then can also provide a space for insects to pollinate. So, we have a native plant sale going on right now. We sell all perennials, all natives, flowers, trees, and shrubs that can be found here along the Gulf Coast.”

Native plants can be purchased at the Pascagoula River Audubon Center or online and picked up at the center.

There will be another native plant sale in September for all those who do their gardening in the fall.