Promoting Native Perennial Plants for 29 years
All our plants propagated in Frenchtown, NJ

Toadshade is primarily a mail order nursery,
and the farm itself is not open to the public.

• Our Story
• Our Services
• About Our Plants
• Blog
• Request Catalogue or Blog
• How to Order
• Shipping

• Garden with Wildflowers
• Seed Propagation
• Plant a Plant
• How to Create a Meadow

• About Milkweeds
• About Asters
• About Goldenrods
• About Penstemons
• About Violets
• About Yellow Violets
• About Cultivars

• Plants for Bees
• Other Sites
• Native Groundcovers
• References

When buying wildflowers, make sure they are propagated, not removed from the wild! If you have any doubt, ask! Some plant species have been driven to extinction in the wild due to the collection of wild plants!

Our New Catalog is Out!

This month's big announcement: Toadshade's free 2025 catalog is out! If you've already ordered one, you should have gotten it by now. If you have yet to order one, you can request one here! We try to make our catalog as informative as possible, so that it can be used as an informational resource for years to come. We hope that you enjoy it!

The July Blog, "Nature's Nursery, Nature's Pantry, and Nature's Air Conditioners: Trees" has been very well received - check it out. You can also look for older blogs in our archive.

Although we don't have any farmers market events scheduled until September, you can always order plants and seeds through our website for pick up in Frenchtown, 7 days a week at Frenchtown Home & Hardware (11 Kingwood Ave, Frenchtown, NJ 08825: Monday-Saturday 8:30-6:00, Sundays 10:00-4:00). Please be sure to wait to receive your personalized order pick up confirmation before you head over to pick up your order!

Keep an eye out for our fall schedule of events, lectures and webinars! September and October are shaping up to the pretty busy here at Toadshade - we'll be at events all over NJ and nearby PA, so keep an eye out in your emails and on our website for further updates about where to find us at an event near you, and catch our lectures and webinars to learn more about native plants.

It's monarch season, and milkweeds like this Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) are having a great year. It's a common misconception that you need specific conditions to plant milkweed in your garden- in fact, there's a milkweed for just about every space! If your garden is sunny and moist, Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a good option- but if you don't like how Common Milkweeds spread, give Swamp Milkweeds like this one a try! They're much better behaved, and can handle anything from wet to average conditions in the sun. Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is good for dry, sunny areas, and there are even milkweeds for shady areas, like Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata)! All of them support a variety of pollinators and native insects, in addition to the Monarchs people already know and love.

Need a Toadshade Hat?

We originally had only intended these hats to make us more identifiable at events, but we were asked enough times if our hats were for sale that we finally caved, and for the first time we're offering Toadshade Wildflower Farm baseball caps. Since we've had ours for years, you can consider these hats very thoroughly field-tested; working outside as we do, we are not especially kind to hats here at Toadshade, but these hold up well, and don't easily fade. They make good gifts, and they keep the sun off your face (your dermatologist will thank you). They're soft and comfortable, a nice sage green color, and although they only come in one size, they're quite adjustable.

You would not believe how deer-resistant these things are.

Don't see what you're looking for on our online catalogue? Check back soon! We frequently make changes over the course of the season as more species become available. And if in doubt, ask! We'd love to hear from you!

Toadshade is primarily a mail order nursery, and the farm itself is not open to the public. We have, however, partnered with our wonderful local hardware store (Frenchtown Home & Hardware), which is a ‘pick-up’ point for orders, allowing order pickup 7 days a week in beautiful downtown Frenchtown . Any pickup order costing more than $50 must be pre-paid, but pickup is always free! If you would like to pick up your order rather than having it sent by mail, please simply let us know (with 24 hour notice, M-F), and you will be able to pick up your order at the hardware store’s address (Frenchtown Home & Hardware, 11 Kingwood Ave, Frenchtown, NJ 08825) after receiving pickup details and confirmation from us by phone or email.

Has your group considered a Lecture, Seminar, and Workshop? Randi is an accomplished lecturer and popular public speaker. If you would like her to come share her knowledge with your local group, be they a garden club, a university class, master gardeners, etc. let us know.

Check out our Educational Resources

Listen to her discuss native plants, how she got into growing them, some of her favorite parts of being a naturalist, and ways to make an ecological difference in an episode of Backyard Ecology with host Shannon Trimboli

Listen to her speak about Native Plant Societies with Jeff Nelson from the Kentucky Native Plant Society, Ellen Honeycutt from the Georgia Native Plant Society and of course, host Shannon Trimboli in another episode of Backyard Ecology

Or tune in to the Native Plant Society of New Jersey’s new podcast, The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants (Randi’s not featured in this one, but she does speak in the central blurb, discussing the Native Plant Society of New Jersey!).

Randi was also interviewed for the Washington Post this year, talking about how to best help your local wildlife in your garden outside of the growing season.

And, for those of you who have always wanted to attend one of Randi’s lectures but haven’t been able to make it, you can now view a recorded version of her presentation Native Groundcovers: Sustainable, Living Mulch” on YouTube, courtesy of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey.

Don't forget to subscribe to our series of educational blogs.

Let us know if you would like a copy of our printed catalogue or sign up for our blog.

Our plant descriptions let you know how difficult each species is to start and we have a helpful guide that describe the various techniques that you can use to start native perennial seeds.

There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

Minnie Aumonier

All artwork on the Toadshade Wildflower Farm web site, including drawings and photographs is original © 1996-2025 Randi Eckel. To obtain permission to reproduce this artwork, contact Randi.