Seedling sale starts tomorrow with rush expected on orders

Fairfax County’s annual seedling sale begins at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).

The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District sells the seeds through its Native Tree and Shrub Seedling Sale, but they often sell out in the first week.

“All species sold are native to Virginia and are important to bees, as well as serving as valuable food sources for wildlife,” the county said on an informational page.

The program was interrupted in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed last year with measures to reduce to the spread of the virus, such as no in-person purchases, mandatory mask wearing and contact tracing.

Those efforts are continuing this year, and customers will be able to pick up their orders from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 1 and 9 a.m. to noon April 2 at the Sleepy Hollow Bath and Racquet Club (3516 Sleepy Hollow Road) in West Falls Church.

Customers are asked to limit orders to three packages. Each package gets six seedlings for $15. The packages this year are the following:

• The “Tree-mendous Flowers Package” has seeds for the American hornbeam and winterberry holly trees as well as the Canadian serviceberry shrub.
• The “Un-bee-lievable Blooms Package” has seeds for the eastern redbud tree as well as Indigo bush and silky willow shrubs.

“Don’t wait to place your online order at 10 am on Tuesday, March 1,” the Virginia Native Plant Society said in an online post. “All seedlings sold out quickly last year.”

Photo via Fairfax County