I love May. It seems as if everything is blooming and beckoning us out into the garden.

I travel Highway 3 nearly every day and have delighted in seeing the native plants along the route as they display the changing of the seasons. This time of year the native Pacific dogwood Cornus nuttallii and elderberry Sambucus racemosa are in full bloom, with quite a few mock orange Philadelphus lewisii thrown in for good measure.

If you’d like to add more native plants to your landscape, head to the Kitsap County Fairgrounds to the VanZee Building this weekend for the Master Gardener Foundation of Kitsap County annual plant sale. The foundation raises money every year to help support the WSU Extension Master Gardener program in Kitsap County. The sale has become famous for its tomato starts, native plants, trees and a host of perennials. You’ll also find information from the Kitsap County Noxious Weed Program, Master Composters, Shoreline Stewardship Program and Native Plant Advisor Program. You can consult with onsite helpers in the Master Gardener plant problems clinic. You’ll be able to purchase hanging baskets, fuchsia starts, “Weed ’em and Reap” and “Gardeners Know the Dirt” T-shirts, garden gloves, compost bins and a host of other gardening -hemed temptations. The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 9 and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 10.

BUGS (Bremerton Urban Garden Society) kicks of the gardening season with the fifth annual May Festival on May 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (rain or shine) across from Evergreen Park in Bremerton in the Seaside Church parking lot. You’ll find food, fun, vegetable and plant starts, fresh produce and arts and craft vendors. Learn the buzz about bees and water wise use. Kids will find activities just for them, too. Stop for lunch and snacks at CJ’s Market Grill. Bring the whole family and celebrate spring.

Local floral designer and plant grower Sandy Hardisty can be found most Saturdays at the Poulsbo Farmers Market but twice a year you’ll see her at the Simply Friends Gift Show. The 2008 spring gift show is Mother’s Day weekend, May 8 and 9 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and May 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The show is at the Central Valley Community Hall, 10200 Central Valley Road. You’ll find country floral items, collectible cloth, jewelry, yard art, primitive folk art, wood creations, garden delights, bird houses and much more.

Check out these sales, too: Bainbridge Island Garden Club — May 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Ace Hardware on High School Road; Evergreen Garden Club — May 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pope Center in Belfair; and Poulsbo Garden Club — May 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at NW Design Center in Poulsbo

This month continues the Bainbridge Gardens 50th anniversary celebrations. All summer long customers and visitors can enter for door prize drawings. Two prizes will be awarded each and every week until October. It will be 50 prizes, one for each of the 50 years being celebrated. Anyone who comes in to the nursery can fill out an entry form. There’s no need to be present to win and no purchase is necessary. I’ll bet you’ll want to purchase and take home some treasured plants, too.