AdkAction’s annual plant sale funds the Adirondack Pollinator Project’s educational and conservation initiatives, while helping people in the Adirondacks to directly access appropriate pollinator-friendly plants for our region. This year, 14 varieties of native flowering plants, carefully sourced or grown from seed, will be available. These plants have been ensured to be free of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides detrimental to pollinators.

Thanks to the generous support of the Uihlein Foundation, over 2,000 plants have been cultivated at the Uihlein Farm Greenhouse in Lake Placid for this event. Attendees can pre-order plants for pickup at the festival on June 1, and additional plants will be available for purchase during the event, along with a limited number of T-shirts and stickers.

This year’s Adirondack Pollinator Festival is teaming up with the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration together with Uihlein Farm and Heaven Hill, to provide a packed day of activities and opportunities to learn about the birds, pollinators and ecology of the Adirondacks. Activities taking place include:

¯ Free kids’ pollinator activities: featuring face painting, a pollinator scavenger hunt, and educational crafts.

¯ Gardening experts: Available to answer questions about creating pollinator-friendly habitats.

¯ Guided walks: Including a Native Plant and Restoration Ecology talk led by plant experts Ray Curran, Aaron Thomas (Adirondack Land Trust), Catherine Smith (Northern NY Audubon), Steve Young and “Learn 10 Native Trees” led by Dan Spada (NY Flora Association)

¯ Information tables: Featuring local organizations dedicated to pollinator conservation, composting for soil health and protecting natural resources.

¯ Ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Motus Wildlife Tracking System, including informational talks from area organizations.

For a complete schedule of events, visit the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration page at www.paulsmithsvic.org/gabc and the Adirondack Pollinator Festival page at www.adkaction.org/plantsale.

All proceeds from the plant sale support the Adirondack Pollinator Project’s efforts in habitat conservation and educational outreach. This initiative is a project of AdkAction in partnership with The Wild Center, Paul Smith’s College and Northern NY Audubon.