Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Tuesday - April 04, 2006

From: Gt. Barrington, MA
Region: Northeast
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Sources of native herbaceous plants for Massachusetts
Answered by: Nan Hampton and Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

Hi, I am looking for sources of native herbaceous plants, ideally in plug form, and wondered if you had a list you could send me. Thanks.

ANSWER:

You can visit the National Supplier Directory and search for nurseries in your area, by state or by region, that specialize in native plants. On the page for each business you can information about what the nursery offers, including "Delivery Formats" where you can check to see if the nursery sells plugs. In a preliminary search of the Northeast Region I found Natural Attraction Project, Inc. in Griswold, CT and Native Sun Natural Landscapes in New Preston, CT.

Just as a note, our expert horticulturist advises that plug size plants are more difficult than root ball plants to grow. They tend to dry out more quickly and are more susceptible to predation since they are smaller with fewer roots. In fact, the small size of the root ball makes them more sensitive to any sort of change (e.g., water availability, temperature, etc.).

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Tuesday - April 04, 2006

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