Some of the High Country's best known local horticultural growers will be setting up shop for one day only, on Saturday, April 26, to benefit the Daniel Boone Native Gardens in Boone.

The Wildflower Walk & Plant Sale from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. will be a rare opportunity to see dozens of beautiful “spring ephemerals” which only appear for a short time each year, as well as to buy top quality locally-grown landscaping plants.

Tickets for this rain-or-shine fund raising event are $10, available at the gatehouse April 26, at 651 Horn in the West Drive, and from participating vendors on site. Children under 16 are free.

Local growers include Lamtree Farm from Warrensville with more than a dozen varieties of native azaleas, including pink shell, pinxterbloom, and flame azaleas. Tennessee Rose Native Azalea Nursery will also be selling specimen plants for the mountain landscape.

Charlotte's Greenhouse, a Valle Crucis institution, will be represented, as will Watauga County Farmers Market veteran Alicia Breton with a sample of her favorite plants. Larry Denny will offer vegetables, herbs and perennials, and Shelia Deal will have Stella D'oro for sale.

Ron Fannon will bring boxwoods, Louie Wiseman will have hemlocks and other natives, and Appalachian Native Plants Inc. will be bringing 3-gallon native azaleas raised from seed, as well as Ruby Spice.

Gardeners in the High Country can get inspired as they walk through the Daniel Boone Native Gardens, a 3-acre wonderland of native Appalachian garden “rooms.” The regular season runs May 1 through Oct. 31, open daily.

While there's no guarantee of just which wildflowers will be blooming, since weather patterns affect bloom dates from year to year, many spring ephemerals and even some blossoming trees may be on display.

These include trout lilies, redbud, pink dogwood, Dutchman's breeches, shooting star, wild ginger, yellow lady's slipper, Oconee bells, silver bell tree, May apple, pink lady slipper, and various trilliums.

“Some ephemerals depend on early spring sunshine, before tree leaves leaf out,” explained DBNG horticultural director Kit Olson. “They take advantage of forest floors where there is little competition for sun, water and nutrients, when cold temperatures keep bigger plants dormant and suppress seed germination.

“They have often finished their growing cycle before the gardens open in May, so this is an opportunity to observe some of those fleeting flowers.”

For more information see www.danielboonegardens.org or call 828-264-6390.