About our sale
Happy Plant Sale customers with their plants
Why we do it:
The goal of our annual Native Plant Sale is to provide easy access to beautiful and affordable bare-root native trees and shrubs that are good for people, water and wildlife. EMSWCD's mission is to help people care for land and water. This sale is one small way that we work to fulfill our mission each year.
How it works:
In August, we order as many plants as will fit in cold storage. We spend the next several months on logistics, planning, and online store development. In January, we open the online sale for ordering. In February, things happen fast! The plants are delivered, and over the course of just four short days, we sort about 14,000 plants into an average of 1,000 customer orders. It is really an amazing process!
Plant sale orders bundled up and ready for distribution
Quantities are limited. Here's why:
We are excited that the popularity of our sale has grown substantially over the years. The only downside to this is that plants sell out very quickly. We wish we could expand our sale to meet the demand, but as a small organization with space and storage limitations, we cannot order more plants because we are already at maximum capacity.
With an event team of 10 staff, our back parking lot and cold storage, 14,000 plants is truly the maximum number of plants we can process and distribute. We wish we could do more and appreciate your understanding.
Because this plant sale is for small projects and residential customers, we want to make sure as many people as possible can get plants. That is why we ask that customers order no more than 10 of any one species. If you need more, we can help you with that too.
Where can I get more plants?
Our sale is often the first of the year, but it is not the only one! On our main website we maintain a list of Local sources of native plants. There you will find many other annual Native Plant Sales, as well as retail and wholesale nurseries carrying all the species we offer and more. If you need more information or have questions about a large-scale project, please contact Whitney Bailey at whitney@emswcd.org.
Why bare roots?
Our sale focuses exclusively on native bare-root trees and shrubs for a few key reasons. It allows us to offer the largest selection and quantity possible. Bare-root plants acclimate to new soil conditions easily and establish quickly. Finally, they are inexpensive, which means you can get more plants for less money! Learn more about the benefits of bare-root plants here.
Pick-up day details:
Plant pick-up takes place on Saturday, February 17th from 10am - 3pm. Due to permitting and space limitations, this is the only day that plants are available for pick-up. Please mark your calendar!
- Date: Saturday, February 17th
- Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm
- Location: EMSWCD Office (in the parking lot behind the building)
- Address: 5211 N Williams Ave., Portland 97217