I’d tag along whenever Dave had to run an errand at a big box store. With a new, old house we had a lot of errands. Already checked out, he’d find me in the garden center on my smartphone confirming that Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan) was local. Yes! Or that Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed grass is not invasive. Turns out feather reed grass—a hybrid of European and Asian grasses— is safe because its seeds are sterile. But it probably doesn’t have as many benefits as local switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) which grows up between cracks in the pavement and along hundreds of miles of railroad tracks that crisscross New Jersey. Ready to get on with his day, Dave was not as excited as I was to know we could probably source Panicum virgatum from an abandoned lot for free.
Local nurseries that specialize in native plants survive by selling wholesale. They offer native plants sales to the public a few times a year, but it can be hard to plan a garden with limited chances to buy. Then I found Prairie Nursery out in Westfield, Wisconsin. They only sell native. Never use neonicotinoids. They ship across the United States to ordinary homeowners and provide excellent customer service. Their website allows you to search for native plants from your area and zone. A pre-planned 64-plant Pollinator Garden developed with the Xerces society made it super easy to get started.
Our side lawn was a boring rectangle of grass in full sun. Let’s turn it into a meadow! I placed the order for our pollinator garden in late May, 2015. The next weekend, Dave and I set out to dig the proscribed 15’ x 9’ bed before the 64 plants arrived.
Oh, you’ve answered the question I posted to an earlier blog post of yours.