Sources of native plants

Collinsonia verticillata (Horse-balm) -- a rare native plant

I did a presentation today about creating a native woodland garden for folks that live in the midst of a wonderful mountain forest community.  They were a great group of gardeners.

My talk was filled with encouragement about growing the native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that grace our Eastern U.S. plant communities.  We live in a species-rich and biodiverse region that I hope that more folks will appreciate, conserve, and recreate in their gardens.

But it takes effort to find the native plants that so many of us take for granted in the special natural places we visit.

It's well worth seeking out the regional native plant nurseries and native plant societies in the regions that you live (here are some for mine).

And learning more about YOUR native plants (wherever you live in the world) is also a way to ground yourself in understanding your part of the world.

It's been a wonderful part of my life.

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Availability of native plants

It's a bit frustrating to hand out lists of good plants to grow in programs, knowing that it'll be hard to find them to purchase.

You've really got to be ready to transplant volunteers or grow them yourself from seed or cuttings or visit native plant society sales and specialty nurseries (or do online ordering).

We have lots of great plants in the Eastern U.S. that aren't readily available for various reasons.

They take a long time to grow to flowering size (lots of woodland wildflowers); they have deep roots quickly, so aren't easily held in containers (many canopy trees); they're hard to propagate (seed germination is complex in native species), etc.

But, they're all well worth the effort.

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