Media contact:
Misti Preston
Phone: (573) 751-8596
Misti.Preston@mda.mo.gov

For Immediate Release: May 28, 2008

Catch the Container Craze and Get Growing with Grow Native! Contest

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – Grow Native!, a program of the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Department of Agriculture, has announced a new contest to help you catch the container garden craze.

The Grow Native! Container Garden Contest is easy to enter, open to anyone and a great way to utilize space for your native plants. Simply send your name, address, email address, telephone number and photos of your native plant container garden throughout the growing season to Grow Native! You will be entered among other Missourians taking advantage of an easy way to support natives and showcasing a container or two of our state’s native plants. Send entries to Grow Native!, P.O. Box 630, Jefferson City, Mo. 65102 or enter electronically by sending your information to grownative@mda.mo.gov.

All containers will be judged on visual appeal, length of bloom time and native plant selection (including color combinations, textures and heights.) Three winners will be selected.

Winners will receive a bundle of prizes that include a $100 gift certificate for use at a Grow Native! retail garden center (provided by The Kansas City Gardener and The Gateway Gardener), copies of Tried and True: Missouri Native Plants for Your Yard, Seedling ID Guide for Native Prairie Plants and Native Landscaping for Wildlife and People, a Grow Native! gardening wardrobe (hat, apron, t-shirt and vest), four free admissions to Powell Gardens or Shaw Nature Reserve and a profile of you and your container garden in The Kansas City Gardener or The Gateway Gardener and on the Grow Native! Web site at www.grownative.org.

All entries must be postmarked by Wed., Oct. 15, 2008. For a complete list of rules, ideas to help you get started or tips for successful planting, visit www.grownative.org.