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Free Trees and Plants for Home Gardens

As Good As Grass editor:
Many trees and plants are destroyed each year due to over stocking problems in garden centres. Visit www.freetreesandplants.com to view the impressive flower collection that could be yours. Brighten up your home garden or local landscape with the new addition of these unlikely orphans.

Anyone can reserve free trees, shrubs, flowes and perennials for the home garden. Pay only $7.95 which pays for delivery costs and workers with disabilities to package the plants. There is such a thing as a free bunch - of flowers, trees and shrubs - thanks to a one-of-a-kind program that benefits gardeners, sheltered workshops and the environment. The free trees and plants website, started in February 2004. It obtains from growers and nurseries some of the millions of unsold plants that are destroyed each year. These plants are packaged by hired workers with disabilities to then sent for free to anyone who orders them at www.freetreesandplants.com. Consumers simply pay for processing and shipping costs of $7.95 for each unit of plants.

"With the spring planting season fast approaching, we're thrilled to add a number of perennial plugs to our ever growing collection of trees, shrubs and plants. Gardeners from across the country may reserve any of the more than ninety varieties of perennials, shrubs and trees featured this spring," said Cheryl Richter, a garden writer and photographer who created the program with her husband, Greg, in their hometown of Lincoln, Neb.

"Each year millions of healthy high-quality plants go unsold and are destroyed," Cheryl Richter explained. "They go to the dump, are plowed under or get burned or buried. Every plant we save and select for our program is as good as, or better than, those featured in garden centres and renowned garden catalogs."

The Richters' industry contacts advise them of plants that have not been sold and are scheduled for destruction. They then obtain the plants at little or no cost and arrange for delivery to sheltered workshops that provide employment for workers with disabilities. The workers process and package the items for shipment using packaging systems devised by the Richters.

A visit to the Web site reveals a bounty of offerings, including evergreen, flowering and shade trees, perennials such as columbine, fountain grass, and hostas, shrubs that range from viburnum to mock orange.

"Everything shown has been selected as an easy-to-grow gardening or landscaping favorite", added Greg Richter. "Our concept began when we recognized that there is a terrible waste of living things when unsold plants are thrown away", Greg said. "We have worked with sheltered workshops on other projects in the past and the program quickly took shape. We are believers in direct action and social responsibility, and we do not ask for or accept donations. Our program does not seek charitable designation."

Contact:
Debra Ersch
Free Trees and Plants.com
402-429-9722 or 402-475-5507

"As Good As Grass" would love to hear from any charity involved with landscape gardens or suchlike. Furthermore, does anyone know of similar trees and plants charity in the UK? Please email us if you would like help to promote your concern:
webmaster@asgoodasgrass.co.uk