Boerne's Fall Native Plant Sale Is Saturday at Historic Herff Farm
The Native Plant Society of Texas lists a fall native plant sale Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Teaching Barn at Herff Farm in Boerne. Here is what to know before you go.
If you have been meaning to replace a thirsty patch of yard with plants that belong in the Hill Country, Saturday morning in Boerne is a good time to start.
The Native Plant Society of Texas lists its Boerne chapter's Fall Native Plant Sale, open to the public, for Saturday, Oct. 17. It runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Teaching Barn at Herff Farm.
Why buy at a chapter sale
The society says many of its chapters hold spring and fall sales of native flowers, shrubs and trees. It says buying at those sales is an easy way to get native plants suited to your own ecoregion. The sales support the local chapter, and the society notes that volunteers on hand are a good resource for questions about native plants.
That last part matters as much as the plants. A nursery tag tells you how tall something grows. A neighbor who has kept it alive through a Kendall County summer can tell you whether it will make it in your yard.
For specific questions about a sale, the society suggests contacting the host chapter directly. For plant questions, from identification to landscape advice, it runs a hotline at [email protected].
A farm worth the trip on its own
Herff Farm is at 33 Herff Road in Boerne and is run by the Cibolo. According to the Cibolo, the homestead traces its roots to 1854, when German immigrant Ferdinand Herff founded one of Boerne's earliest European settlements. It was once a 10,000-acre working farm. Today it sits at the confluence of Cibolo and Menger creeks and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Cibolo says the farm's Inspiration, Teaching, Children's and Pollinator gardens show what can thrive in the Hill Country using organic methods and native plants. Native prairie grasses and a wildlife corridor give birds and pollinators habitat.
Saturday is also market day. The Cibolo lists the Farmers Market and the gardens and trails as open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can buy your plants, walk the demonstration gardens to see how they look grown in, and pick up something for supper on the way out.
If you miss it
The society's calendar shows other fall sales nearby. The Highland Lakes chapter sale is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Burnet County Courthouse. The Austin sale is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at Dowell Ranch. The New Braunfels chapter holds its sale from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 24, at Headwaters at the Comal.
There is something fitting about planting natives on ground a German settler broke 172 years ago. The land was here before us, and the plants God put on it know how to live here. We would do well to listen to them.
Hero photo: Renelibrary / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (license).
