Greetings from Prickly Ed's Cactus Patch
April 26, 2022
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See you Soon at the Roadside Stand
Opening Day is May 7th
In celebration of Mother Nature, the Roadside Stand will be opening for the season on Mothers' Day Weekend. We will be here Fridays and Saturdays from 10-3 throughout most of May and June. Native Plant Plugs, Pollinator Friendly Annuals, Organic Herb and Veggie Plants, Magic Dirt and more throughout May with 0.7 gallon neonicotinoid free native perennials available for Pollinator Week in June.
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Great Gift Ideas for Others - or for Yourself | |
DIY Your Own Container Gardens
Have a favorite patio or porch container you need to fill with fabulous flowers? Looking for a great gift idea? Bring your empty container here to the Roadside Stand. Ed will fill it up with Earth Care Farm potting soil and you can pick out the perfect plants and pot them up right while you are here. Leave the mess behind and head home with the perfect container garden.
Sure, we could make up containers in advance or custom make them for you. But, what's the fun in that? We are happy to offer advice or suggestions, but wouldn't you rather get your own artistic juices flowing? And guys, imagine delivering a handmade by you creation to your wife, mom or significant other and telling them you made it yourself? Talk about a one of a kind gift.
Prickly Ed's Pollinator Six Packs
That's right, get your pollinator plants in six packs here at the Roadside Stand. Six native plant plugs packed in a decorative six pack holder with a lovely bee bow and pollinator gardening handout will be ready and waiting for you just in time for Mother's Day gift giving. You won't get those just anywhere now will you?
Gift Certificates
Decorative Gift Certificates are always available in any denomination for all of your gift giving needs.
Want more details on any of the items above? Send us a message any time.
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Roadside Stand availability changes throughout the season
Items available at the Roadside Stand change based on what's growing! For the most up to date information on what we are featuring be sure to follow along on Facebook, or send us a message anytime.
Reminder, we are currently only able to accept cash, check and Venmo at the Roadside Stand. For directions and additional information, visit the website.
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Life in the Garden, a new feature in the local Barrington Times | |
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Did you hear the news? Our local town newspaper, the Barrington Times, has a new feature called "Life in the Garden" featuring eco-friendly garden tips by yours truly. We kicked off this feature with a story about the return of the hummingbirds, including all the things you can do to attract them to your yard. You can read the first edition on our blog by clicking the button below:
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The Basics of Nature Based Land Care | |
Nature-Based is working with, not against nature. It is about the plants you choose, where you plant them, and how you manage their soil and water. It is about new practices, not new products. How does that actually work? Well, how does nature work? For millions of years, plants have evolved to thrive in the places they were born. They did this without irrigation, fertilizers, mulch or pruning; they did fine without us. Our modern landscapes have drastically changed this elegant natural system. Residential and recreational landscapes, filled with non-native plants and strict geometric shapes, rely on fossil fueled equipment, chemicals, irrigation, and pruning to meet an ideal that is more like the inside of a house than the outside. That’s not natural. What is? Read about it in this fantastic new resource from the Perfect Earth Project.
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For Wildlife and Humans, Native Plants are a Key to Climate Resilience
Native plants are known to support a greater abundance and diversity of bees, butterflies, and other wildlife. But, did you know that when native plants are used in habitat creation projects, they can also help mitigate climate change as part of nature-based climate solutions. Read more about it in this recent story from the Xerces Society.
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Unfortunately, despite marketing claims, the sprays being used by companies conducting mosquito spraying don’t just harm mosquitoes. The most widely used residential mosquito sprays are also highly toxic to native pollinators such as bees and butterflies, fish and other aquatic organisms, and they can even pose a risk to pets and people. Most residential mosquito control companies use insecticides known as pyrethrins, which are chemicals derived from chrysanthemum flowers that are toxic to insects; or more frequently, pyrethroids, which are synthetic chemicals that mimic pyrethrins. Whether natural or synthetic, these are broad-spectrum insecticides that are highly toxic to a wide variety of insects, not just mosquitoes. There is no way for companies to spray these broad-spectrum insecticides in your yard without also killing other insects they come in contact with, including bees, butterflies, caterpillars, ladybugs, dragonflies and other beneficial insects, along with the mosquitoes. We are asking for your help in spreading the word about this serious issue! | |
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Be sure to share this information with friends, family and neighbors and encourage them to stop being a buzz kill! | |
Worried about Ticks?
A now nearly 10 year old study clearly showed that spraying yards with pesticides had no impact on whether or not the residents contracted Lyme Disease. The research revealed that using pesticides is not an effective way to curb tick-borne disease and can leave families dealing with another medical issue: the negative health effects that can be brought on by the use toxic pesticides.
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Pollinator Week 2022
Mark your calendar for Pollinator Week 2022. We’ll have some fun surprises in store throughout the week. We hope you will join us as we celebrate pollinators, raise awareness for their conservation and health, and work together to protect them.
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Prickly Ed's Gives Back
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Cut through the dense forest across the street from Prickly Ed's and you'll land on the pristine 40 waterfront acres that make up the Johannis Wildlife Preserve. Stewarded by the Barrington Land Conservation Trust, this property is home to a wide array of flora and fauna. Starting this year, with support from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a multi-year habitat improvement project will get underway at Johannis, focused on enhancing the property for wildlife, migrating songbirds and pollinators. You can read more about Johannis and the project in the Land Trust Newsletter, linked below. We will be contributing 5% of Roadside Stand sales this year to the Johannis Restoration Project. You will also have the opportunity to "round up" your sale to help even more!
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Prickly Ed's Cactus Patch, Roadside Stand and Apothecary is a super small, hyperlocal, roadside stand located directly on the border of Barrington, RI and Swansea, MA focused on making the area a little bit wilder one yard at a time! Offering great native plants, prickly pear cactus, magic dirt, unusual pollinator friendly annuals, organic herb and vegetable plants, lots of solicited and unsolicited advice & random curiosities designed to get your yard really buzzing. You can read all about on our website, including the story of where the name Prickly Ed's Cactus Patch came from. | |
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Be Sure to Check out all the Prior Editions of News from the Cactus Patch too!
Have you missed prior editions of our newsletter? Want to look back to find an article or resource that we shared previously? You can read all the news on our website by clicking the button below.
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Help Create a Buzz
Please take a minute to send this edition of "News from the Cactus Patch" along to your family, friends and neighbors and invite them to join our mailing list as well. You can also share this on social media channels using the links at the bottom of the newsletter.
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