Hit the Dirt; Propagating Native Plants

Good morning. This is David Weigel in the dirt. Today I want to talk about the importance of using nursery propagated plants wildflowers in particular whenever possible. I've long been an advocate of using native plants as much as possible in our gardening efforts because it just really unifies the whole landscape and we have a lot of elements in our own gardens that are also found in the woods that surround our homes. But the dilemma that is always leads me to when working with native plants is that they're often hard to find in nurseries. And if I go out into the wilds collecting the plants than I'll be depleting the supply of the plants in the woods that we all love to enjoy when we go out and take high IQ's and enjoy time communing with nature. And so the only solution that I found to this dilemma is to insist on using only nursery propagate or wild flowers ferns etc whenever possible. And this might sound easy but it's actually very difficult because as it turns out most of the wild flowers that are sold in

nurseries are actually harvested from the wild and repotted and sold oftentimes even labeled nursery grown plants. The nursery owners figure that if they take in a smaller plant put it in a pot that's gotten bigger while they've had it becomes a nursery grown and oftentimes people that think they are doing the right thing and buying a plane that has been grown in the nursery are still buying something that's been harvested from the wild. So any time when you're in a nursery buy Trillium or whatever your favorite wild flower is. Ask the nursery owner what the source of the plant was was it harvested from the wild or was it propagated in a nursery to begin with. And this is also many local nurseries love to go out and harvest the ferns in particular. Even though they seem quite abundant they are. Can be

depleted in one way take and route the ferns from the woods that allows weeds to grow back in their place instead of the ferns re-establishing themselves in many cases. So ask your local nursery owner where you get your ferns. Do they use in your crews out to dig them in the wilds or do you buy them from suppliers who have their crews dig them in the wilds or are they propagated from spores or other methods used for propagation of native plants. So one source that I found very recently through a meeting with the former Hart horticulturalist at the garden in the woods in Massachusetts is the New England wild flower society they have a 45 acre garden and they have a large nursery where they make plants and seeds available to their members that have been very carefully propagated often and great.

Effort on their part in many cases these nursery propagated plans will cost two three four five times as much as the plants that we can buy out by They've been harvested from the wild. If we look at the long term cost of our gardening efforts then maybe this still might be quite a bargain. So the address for the New England wild flower society has Hemenway road h e m e n w a y Framingham Mass 0 1 7 0 0 1 dash 2 6 9 9 0 0. The point that I just want to continue to emphasize is that even though it's often more expensive to garden in an ecologically sound matter when we consider the long term benefits of doing things the right way now will have a lot more enjoyment in the future of both our gardens and the wild lands around our homes and many people think that Maine is an abundant place with lots of beautiful

plants everywhere in the woods and we can't really do anything image by going out and selectively harvesting a few things and while that might be true it if we're dealing on an individual basis if I go out and you go out and all your friends go out and we're all out in the woods doing play and before you know it the woods won't look the same. So this is a day why go for the dirt. I'll talk to you again in a few weeks.