Promoting Native Perennial Plants for 30 years
All our plants propagated in Frenchtown, NJ

Toadshade is primarily a mail order nursery,
and the farm itself is not open to the public.

• Our Story
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• About Our Plants
• Recently Added Plants
• Blog
• Paperless Catalogue
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• Garden with Wildflowers
• Seed Propagation
• Plant a Plant
• How to Create a Meadow

• About Milkweeds
• About Asters
• About Goldenrods
• About Penstemons
• About Violets
• About Yellow Violets
• About Cultivars

• Plants for Bees
• Other Sites
• Native Groundcovers
• References

When buying wildflowers, make sure they are propagated, not removed from the wild! If you have any doubt, ask! Some plant species have been driven to extinction in the wild due to the collection of wild plants!

Where does the summer go?

Summer is drawing to a close, and fall event season is nearly upon us!

Although there’s still plenty of time to enjoy summertime garden sights and sounds, soon enough our monarchs will be migrating south again to their wintertime home in Mexico, and many of our garden plants will begin preparing to settle in for cold weather. What’s a gardener to do? Well, fall is actually one of the best time to plant perennials and woody plants, which is why there are so many fall plant events! Here’s where Toadshade’s planning to be in September:

Sunday's in September (Sept 6, 13, 20, 27) 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM: Toadshade will be back selling plants and seeds at the Hunterdon Community Farmer’s Market at the Dvoor Farm in Flemington, NJ (111 Mine Street, Flemington, NJ 08822). We’ll be there every weekend in September, making it a great place to stop by, pick up pre-orders, or talk with us about fall garden planning. For full details, you can visit https://www.hunterdonfarmersmarket.org/. Pre-orders, as always, are welcome!

On Saturday, September 12, 10:00 am to 2:00 PM: Toadshade will be selling plants and seeds at the Lambertville Insect Festival at Ely Park (180 N. Main St, Lambertville, NJ 08530). In case of inclement weather, it will be held indoors next door to Ely Park, at South Hunterdon Regional Elementary School (Formerly LPS) all-purpose room (200 N. Main St., Lambertville, NJ 08530). Pre-orders are welcome, and this event is free and open to the public, with lots of information and learning opportunities for kids and adults alike.

On Saturday September 19, 8:30 am to 12:30 PM: Toadshade will be selling plants and seeds at the Hardy Plant Society’s Fall Plant Sale at the grounds of the Farm, Home & Youth Foundation of Montgomery County in Collegeville, PA (also the home of the Montgomery County 4-H Club), 1015 Bridge Road, Collegeville, PA 19426. For more information, visit https://www.hardyplant.org/fall-gardeners-market. Pre-orders are welcome! (Event is rain or shine).

On Saturday, September 19, 10:00 am to 2:00 PM: Toadshade will be selling plants and seeds at the Riverton Green Team Native Plant Garden Tour and Plant Sale. This event begins at Riverton’s Gazebo (308 Broad St., Riverton, NJ, 08077), and is free and open to the public! In case of inclement weather, this event has a rain date of September 20, and more information about this event can be found at https://riverton-nj.com/riverton-native-plant-garden-tour/. Toadshade pre-orders are welcome!

On Saturday, September 26, 8:30 am to 2:00 PM: Toadshade will be selling plants and seeds at the Jersey-Friendly Yards Conference at the Gateway building on the campus of Ocean County College, College Drive (Toms River, NJ 08754). For more information and to register for the conference, visit https://jerseyyards.org/events/2026-conference/. Conference registration is $20, rain or shine, and Toadshade pre-orders are welcome!

Going Paperless

Would you like to go paperless but still like paging through a traditional catalogue? Here is a link to a digital copy of our 2025 catalogue.

Need a Toadshade Hat?

We originally had only intended these hats to make us more identifiable at events, but we were asked enough times if our hats were for sale that we finally caved, and for the first time we're offering Toadshade Wildflower Farm baseball caps. Since we've had ours for years, you can consider these hats very thoroughly field-tested; working outside as we do, we are not especially kind to hats here at Toadshade, but these hold up well, and don't easily fade. They make good gifts, and they keep the sun off your face (your dermatologist will thank you). They're soft and comfortable, a nice sage green color, and although they only come in one size, they're quite adjustable.

You would not believe how deer-resistant these things are.

Don't see what you're looking for on our online catalogue? Check back soon! We frequently make changes over the course of the season as more species become available. And if in doubt, ask! We'd love to hear from you!

Toadshade is primarily a mail order nursery, and the farm itself is not open to the public. We have, however, partnered with our wonderful local hardware store (Frenchtown Home & Hardware), which is a ‘pick-up’ point for orders, allowing order pickup 7 days a week in beautiful downtown Frenchtown . Any pickup order costing more than $50 must be pre-paid, but pickup is always free! If you would like to pick up your order rather than having it sent by mail, please simply let us know (with 24 hour notice, M-F), and you will be able to pick up your order at the hardware store’s address (Frenchtown Home & Hardware, 11 Kingwood Ave, Frenchtown, NJ 08825) after receiving pickup details and confirmation from us by phone or email.

Has your group considered a Lecture, Seminar, and Workshop? Randi is an accomplished lecturer and popular public speaker. If you would like her to come share her knowledge with your local group, be they a garden club, a university class, master gardeners, etc. let us know.

Check out our Educational Resources

Listen to her discuss native plants, how she got into growing them, some of her favorite parts of being a naturalist, and ways to make an ecological difference in an episode of Backyard Ecology with host Shannon Trimboli

Listen to her speak about Native Plant Societies with Jeff Nelson from the Kentucky Native Plant Society, Ellen Honeycutt from the Georgia Native Plant Society and of course, host Shannon Trimboli in another episode of Backyard Ecology

Or tune in to the Native Plant Society of New Jersey’s new podcast, The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants (Randi’s not featured in this one, but she does speak in the central blurb, discussing the Native Plant Society of New Jersey!).

Randi was also interviewed for the Washington Post this year, talking about how to best help your local wildlife in your garden outside of the growing season.

And, for those of you who have always wanted to attend one of Randi’s lectures but haven’t been able to make it, you can now view a recorded version of her presentation Native Groundcovers: Sustainable, Living Mulch” on YouTube, courtesy of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey.

Don't forget to subscribe to our series of educational blogs.

Let us know if you would like a copy of our printed catalogue or sign up for our blog.

Our plant descriptions let you know how difficult each species is to start and we have a helpful guide that describe the various techniques that you can use to start native perennial seeds.

There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

Minnie Aumonier

All artwork on the Toadshade Wildflower Farm web site, including drawings and photographs is original © 1996-2025 Randi Eckel. To obtain permission to reproduce this artwork, contact Randi.