Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District (OCNRCD) 2025 annual plant sale
Date: 2/13/2025
SUBJECT: PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: In main paper and in the calendar of events
CONTACT: Sarah Damsell
Contact Title: District Manager
Organization: Orleans County Natural Resource Conservation District (OCNRCD)
Phone Number: 802-334-6090 x7008
Email Address: sarah.damsell@vt.nacdnet.net
Title: Orleans CountyConservation District hosts annual plant sale for land enhancement
The Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District (OCNRCD) is hosting its annual plant sale. The fundraiser is an opportunity for community members to purchase quality bareroot plants while supporting the District’s important conservation programming. A selection of evergreens, shrubs, fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, trout for stocking private ponds, rain barrels, bee boxes, and flower starts grown by local FFA students are available for presale at the OCNRCD website at www.orleanscountynrcd.org.
The goal of the sale is to encourage individual self-sufficiency and land enhancements to private property. For over 40 years, OCNRCD has been offering the community a variety of bareroot plants for sale. Planting on your property can provide many benefits: food for you and the birds, beauty to your land, vegetation for wet areas, shade, habitat for wildlife, carbon sequestration, and erosion control.
Plant supplies are limited and placed by pre-orders only. Orders are due by Monday, April 7 and are picked up by customers at our conservation fair on Saturday, May 3 at the Orleans County Fairgrounds in Barton. Orders can be placed online at the OCNRCD website at www.orleanscountynrcd.org.
This year’s plant sale theme is “Embrace the Wet!” Are you unable to hay a portion of your field because it’s just too wet? Consider beautifying your limited cropping areas and spots on your property that are getting wetter with wet-loving plants the Conservation District has for sale. Northeastern Vermont is experiencing the highest increase in precipitation in the state, and the most common soil type in Orleans County is poorly drained Cabot silt loam. The Conservation District seeks to help community members transform the wet areas on their properties into beautiful, blooming, forested landscapes.
For 2025, OCNRCD’s plant sale is offering a variety of “wet-loving” trees and flowering plants, including willows, winterberry, arrowwood, buttonbush, dogwood, swamp oak (deer loving), cheery, yellow-flowering marsh marigold, white-flowering turtlehead, and sacred sweetgrass.
Additionally, OCNRCD is selling shrub willow stakes and fascines this year. Willow stakes and fascines are a low-cost option of plant material for stabilizing eroding soils, lakeshores, and river banks. Healthy riparian area vegetation helps prevent soil loss, sedimentation in our waterways, slows high-water flows, while providing pollution filtering, and shade and food for wildlife. Land erosion can lead to the build up of nutrients like phosphorus in our waterways, which negatively impacts water quality. To learn about planting willow stakes and fascines, sign up for the OCNRCD willow stakes installation workshop. For more information about the workshop and to register, go to OCNRCD’s website at www.orleanscountynrcd.org.
For over 30 years, the Orleans County Conservation District has been partnering with the Future Farmers of America students at North County Career Center. Every year, the FFA students produce wildflower starts and other seedlings to add to the OCNRCD sale. This year, the students are also building bee houses.
For questions or for a print catalog and order form, contact OCNRCD at: Sarah Damsell, 802-334-6090 x7008 or sarah.damsell@vt.nacdnet.net
About the Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District
Since 1946, the Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District (OCNRCD) five member board and staff have been working to protect and enhance the soil and waters of Orleans County by seeking solutions to local environmental concerns. OCNRCD provides leadership, education and services for the implementation of sound land stewardship practices.
