April showers or not, Oklahomans expect to have flowers in May, but it’s not petunias and pansies they want this spring.

These days Okies want native flowers and plants, but supply is not keeping up with demand.

“It’s been crazy,” said Marilyn Stewart owner of Wild Things Nursery. Based near Seminole, her operation packs up trucks and travels to native plant sales events. Two of the first shows in April, in Sand Springs and Jenks, revealed the snowballing demand for native plants is rolling stronger and stronger.

Oklahoma has one more big native plants event this spring, the Tulsa Audubon Society’s Wildlife Habitat Garden Tour and Native Plant Sale, the weekend of May 20-21, she said.

The demand goes far beyond weekend shows, however. Supply is not keeping up with demands from landscapers who are designing with native plants and struggling to find any stock.

“What we really need are more native plant growers,” Stewart said. “People want native plants and they talk to their landscaper, who designs something, and then nobody can find the native plants they need.”

To that end, Stewart said she is part of a fledgling non-profit called Oklahoma Native Network, formed for now under the umbrella of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society. The group of nursery owners, horticulturists, and landscapers wants to create a group that continues to promote the use of native plants but especially promotes the business of propagating those plants.

Early visions are to grow the non-profit similar to “Grow Native!” a native plant marketing and education program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation that has been in operation there for more than 20 years, she said.

“We want to find ways to get funding to help support some of the growers when they’re getting started and serve as a link between landscapers and what the growers have available. You have a landscaper and they need 800 little bluestem (grasses)? That’s not something our nursery could do,” she said.

A selection of some native plants is available at many nurseries, but only a few statewide dedicate a majority of their work to native stocks, she said.

“We need someone like a Greenleaf Nursery (in Park Hill) or a Sanders (in Broken Arrow) to get into it,” she said.

Conversation with people who want the plants leads Sanders to say some are concerned about pollinators, “everyone wants milkweed,” but the idea of helping wildlife and birds, fostering healthy soils, and the idea of growing native plants appeals to a broad range, she said.

Public pollinator gardens and examples like Tulsa’s Gathering Place, landscaped with native grasses and flowers, help feed the interest. “Nature’s Best Hope” author Doug Tallamy tells people they can make a difference in their own backyard. Likewise, author Benjamin Vogt and his “Prairie Up,” inspires home gardeners to look for plants native to their homes, Stewart said.

“New young homeowners come to us and they have boxwood hedges and Bermuda grass lawns and that’s not what they want anymore. They want something new,” she said.

The Oklahoma Native Plant Society website is one source people can look to for information on where to find native plants, she said. Okies for Monarchs also lists resources for finding native plants and seeds on its website, including Johnston Seed Company of Enid, which sells regional wildflower seed mixes designed in cooperation with Okies for Monarchs.

Asked to list five great native plants beginners might want to plant, Stewart pointed to the asters, sunflowers, goldenrods and mountain mint families, and of course milkweeds. She cautioned, however, that even though milkweed is a perennial it can be picky about where it wants to establish itself.

“I love all native plants and we have 2700 different native plants in Oklahoma, so there’s a lot to choose from,” she said.