Big box stores’ home-and-garden sections are not the only places to find great plants this spring.

This weekend, for instance, you can help local wildlife while boosting your garden for years to come. The eighth annual Native Plant Sale at Aullwood Audubon Farm will feature more than 100 wild grasses, flowers, trees and shrubs that developed naturally in the Miami Valley region.

It offers exclusively native, local-grown plants. Aullwood rescues mature, healthy wildflowers from sites slated for development, and buys others from southwest Ohio growers.

“The native perennials are perfect for growing in the conditions we have here,” said the farm’s executive director, Charity Krueger. “They’ve developed some drought resistance, so you don’t have to water them as much, and you don’t necessarily have to fertilize them. And they come up every year, so once you make your initial investment, you’re done.”

Krueger said having indigenous, noninvasive plants and ground cover in the region’s gardens helps create a balanced, healthier ecosystem for pollinating insects and the birds who feed on them while nesting or migrating in the area.

On top of that, they’re attractive. “If you get multiple species of the same plant, you get these lovely splashes of color in the garden. They’re plants that insects and birds have evolved with, so they’re very attractive to native wildlife like butterflies, and they are part of our natural heritage,” Krueger said.

Some popular choices at the Aullwood sale are Virginia bluebells, great white trillium, wild ginger and witch hazel, and flowering dogwood trees. Sales support workshops and outreach programs at the working farm, which is home to hundreds of poultry and livestock as well as trails and a nature center.

Here’s info on upcoming plant sales for the Miami Valley region:

Aullwood Native Plant Sale, 10 a.m to 4:30 p.m., April 14. Aullwood Audubon Farm, 1000 Aullwood Road, Dayton. Native perennial plants, $3.50; trees and shrubs, up to $25. Info: aullwood.center.audubon.org

Cox Arboretum Wildflower and Native Plant Sale, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28. Cox Arboretum MetroPark, 6733 Springboro Pike, Dayton. Wildflowers and native plants propagated or rescued from areas slated for development. Info: (937) 434-9005, www.metroparks.org/Parks/CoxArboretum.

Wegerzyn Mayfair Plant Sale, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 5 and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 6. Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave., Dayton. Perennials, annuals, herbs, landscape plants, vegetables, hanging baskets. Benefits the Wegerzyn Gardens Foundation. Info: (937) 277-6545, www.metroparks.org/Parks/WegerzynGarden.

MEEC Native Plant Sale, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 23. The Marianist Environmental Education Center at Mount St. John, 4435 E. Patterson Road, Dayton. All plants are indigenous to the region and cultivated on site by volunteers. Funds support restoration work. Advance orders encouraged. Info and advance order catalog: meec.udayton.edu

Contact contributing writer Ria Megnin at ria@riamegnin.com.