Like last year, we plan on thinning out the rain garden this spring at BEAT’s Environmental Leadership & Education Center, and we’d love to spread some of these native plants out to other areas in Berkshire County!

DATE: Saturday, June 1

TIME: 10 AM to 1 PM

LOCATION: BEAT’s Environmental Leadership & Education Center, 20 Chapel Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Three years ago, with the help of volunteers, BEAT planted a rain garden at our Environmental Leadership & Education Center located along the West Branch Housatonic River in Pittsfield. Not only does this garden collect and filter stormwater before running off and draining to the Housatonic River directly behind our building, but it also supports native pollinators. For the last two years, we have been amazed at how huge and dense the plants get each summer, with blue vervain and other native plants over nine feet tall! The garden is filled with pollinators all summer, and then in the fall, birds feast on the fruit.

We’ll be at BEAT’s Center (20 Chapel Street, Pittsfield) giving out plants from 10 AM to 1 PM next Saturday, June 1. Feel free to stop by at any time during those hours. Some species that will be available to take home are common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), sweet-scented Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum), blue vervain (Verbena hastata), and likely a few other species as well. Also, if you have an overabundance of native plants in your garden and would like to share them with others, please feel free to bring them along — but it’s also not necessary.

If you have any of the following plants and you’re willing to donate any to BEAT’s rain garden, please let us know!

• Wild bee balm or wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
• Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
• Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberos)