Spring has arrived in a big way here at the nursery! We’ve loved seeing so many returning and new faces and are thrilled with the growing excitement surrounding native plant gardening. Life behind-the-scenes at the nursery is just as exciting as we move into a new era of plant propagation and reap the rewards of our fledgling conservation areas.
In our hoop house, we are continuing to produce our own inventory from seeds and cuttings. This week, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) was on the list to be planted. Once the trays are filled with an appropriate soil mix for the species, several seeds are added to each cell in a small divot, which are then covered with additional soil and “tucked in.” We won’t see these individual seedlings for sale this spring, but that’s ok! Propagating our own inventory is an investment in the future, reducing our dependency on outside sources and increasing our control over the provenance of our stock. Other seedlings, such as trees like Kentucky coffee tree and northern red oak, are already growing from earlier plantings and will make their way to our sales stock once they are strong and sturdy enough to succeed in your landscapes.
As our conservation areas continue to mature, it feels like we’re seeing more and more life on a daily basis. The killdeer continue to lay eggs amongst our plants in the sales area, and we dutifully mark their nests so that everyone can give them plenty of space. The mallards, eastern bluebirds, and many other birds also have nests of their own, and the air is full of birdsong. We even caught a Polyphemus moth that had just recently emerged, and had likely been hosted on one of our inventory plants and wintered in the mulch around the base of a flowering dogwood. Several species of amphibians have been documented breeding as well, including American toads and leopard frogs. It just goes to show that if you provide a safe and functional habitat, the wildlife will find it!
