MISSOULA — Saturday, the Rocky Mountain Gardens hosted the first annual Phlox Fest, kicking off garden season in the garden city. The event looked to germinate some excitement for native plants.
“Today is the Rocky Mountain Gardens’ first annual spring opening. We're calling it Phlox Fest,” said Alex Brown, program development coordinator with the Rocky Mountain Gardens. “First and foremost, we're just encouraging the public to come out and see the gardens.”
The event celebrated spring, gardens and Missoula’s environment, but also one plant in particular. The Missoula phlox, or Phlox missoulensis, is only found in Missoula County.
“The Missoula phlox, it's small, you don't find it in a lot of spaces,” Brown said. “But by raising awareness around it, it kind of opens the door for education, for people to kind of spark their curiosity about ‘what is the significance of a small plant?’”
The festival is named in honor of the plant, which also inspired the Missoula County Department of Ecology and Extension’s logo. Organizers, like Brown, hope Missoulians connect with the phlox and this year’s festival theme of “ReWild Missoula.”
The event had tables with master gardeners, beekeepers, the University of Montana’s herbarium staff and many more. The whole team from the Department of Ecology and Extension, who oversee the Rocky Mountain Gardens, were also there to educate and excite about Missoula’s habitat and native plants.
“We have a bunch of partner organizations here who are sharing information and resources on how the public can promote wildlife habitat in their own outdoor spaces,” she said.
There were also vendors selling all sorts of native plants. Jane McGuire, nursery administrator at Montana Plants, planned to talk native plants with customers all day.
“It's been great. It's been really busy, really nice to meet folks who are interested in sort of rewilding with a lot of these native plants,” she said. “I’ve learned some things too. A lot of the folks here are really, really knowledgeable, which has been fun.”
McGuire was also inspired by the turn out.
“It's really cool to see what an interest there is just in our community in native plants,” she said.
The festival also featured food trucks, live music, a scavenger hunt and, of course, the gardens themselves.
“People can look at all the different species that would do well in this climate with very low effort,” Brown said.
While it was the event’s first year, it is not the last. The party is going to be a regular spring feature to get people out and about in the gardens. Like spring, Phlox Fest is just beginning to bloom.
“By growing native plants, we're also supporting native pollinators, which then you just move on up the food chain,” Brown said. “It's a quiet time in the gardens, but things are starting to bloom and they're definitely growing.”
Phlox Fest might be over for the year, but the Rocky Mountain Gardens are just getting started. During growing season, the gardens offer more open hours and tons of volunteer opportunities.
