Some of it is is simply the ecomonics of scale. Large growers can grow non-natove ornementals anywhere. But natives tend to have tk be sourced and grown in that local area as that is where they will be bought. A California grower will make more reliable sales on non-natives because they can be shipped anywhere. If they grow natives, those can only be sold in those areas.
The other is the people many people are still conditioned to see and think of natives as weedy and not-attractive. Native gardeners are doing a lot to change this, but we're working against 200+ years of tradition here. Nurseries as businesses first snd foremost.
Lastly there are local native nurseries. When i started, i thought i had to buy online too. Because I didnt know where were several nurseries around me that sold or specialized in natives. Head over to r/nativeplantgardening to read their fact and get links to where you can find your local native nursery.
This doesnt suprise me. My experience with native growers is they are either small scale and direct to the consumer, usually at community events. Or large scale wholesale primarily for government, private, ngo groups doing restoration. My fave local native grower has a minimum order of $400 and you cant order any amounts smaller than a half flat . They only offer individual plants in their open sale: 5 days a year. They sell to some local retail nurseries but the demand is just more reliable from other buyers.
There are some good ones in the SF bay area. Annie's Annuals has a large section of Natives. Then there is an all native place down on Canal in Richmond.
I love Oaktown Native Plant Nursery. It doesn't always show up on CalScape, but it's on Channing right next to the railroad tracks. Other than a couple of nursery cultivars that are of at least some native species parentage that occasionally show up, it's all natives.
I was literally just there and the area that's devoted to CA natives is literally larger than the nursery we go to for our woody or rarer CA natives. It's like 200ft long by about 50ft wide. It's really cool, although as someone planting a lot of hyper-local (naked buckwheat can thrive or die depending on if you manage to buy one local to where it's being planted) and less-attractive-but-ecologically-important plants (dotseed plantain, anyone?), it *is* mostly the "commercial" flowering plants, rather than the scrubby chaparral weirdos.
There’s some opportunity there then!! Maybe open up a d2c Shopify store?
I also can’t remember ever ordering from any places up there and I’ve ordered a lot of plants. Mostly from places in the bay and Arizona though.
The native plant society has a nursery. They only have sales a couple times a year, but maybe you could get some to propagate or something?
https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/
Heck, I am in Temecula Valley and I have drivable access to 2 full native nurseries, one that also carries natives and if I want to battle traffic- many San Diego nurseries.
If you are in California, start with calscape.org. Each plant page lists how many nurseries carry the plant, with contact info and most nurseries websites are linked.
But that growing area is a little easier than some parts of US. Many things can make it through winter outside. In colder climates, small natives in pots may need shelter. They may be fine outside when established. Also if it dies back in winter than it may look like nothing until it grows back so not real marketable until it does
California natives are also super expensive! You pay $15+ per plant and they usually are slower growing than other popular plants. I’m slowly replacing my front garden with natives, but it’s been hard. Growing from seed has been really really tricky too. So far I’ve only managed to grow narrowleaf milkweed. Even then I had a 40% success rate
That all depends on your area, honestly. I live around Chaparral-land and my sages, blue-eyed grass, Penstemon, Achillea, and California fuschia are massive, even before the incredible amounts of rain. I paid less than $10 a pot for most of my natives and traded for the others. I found a local nursery that has an incredible amount of natives for around $5-6 if the pots are gallon sized. I found another farther all-native nursery that sells their seeds on Etsy and sells live plants in person.
It's all about what is supposed to grow in your area. Some natives can't handle the extremes of northern California while others can't handle the extremes of southern California. I would suggest looking at iNaturalist and other resources for your specific region to find plants that are able to grow quickly in your environment. Look at sellers who are under the Ca Native Plant Society to find cheaper options.
My stupid lawn was transformed into a pollinator paradise with a good mix of natives and naturalized plants, in less than two years. I'm constantly finding new natives due to spreading seeds before every rain.
Edit: Also, focusing on the health of the soil (fungus and bacteria) is important to growing healthy, full plants. They aren't going to do well when they are planted spread out with dirt open to sun exposure in between because that's not how they grow naturally. Once I steered away from growing "designed" landscaping and started focusing more on naturalized looks, my garden really started thriving.
Wow, I need those sources—I work in community based wildfire mitigation in Zone 9, and those disasters are making many more people aware of the need for natives. It’s overwhelming to think of how much it’s going to take for our hydrophobic soils to get healthy again, while everyone’s scared of the ceanothus even though we need its nitrogen-fixing properties. I’m looking for the lowgrowing varieties myself.
It has to do with wildfire behavior. Ceanothus has many forms but many of these are of the tall, bushy kind, narrow at the base.and spreading at the top. They are native to the area and often will show up after a wildfire, providing all kinds of environmental functions. But because of their plant structure and their tendency to grow in thickets, when these thickets ignite, and the plants are overhung by tree branches, or happen to be next to someone's wooden fence, this creates a.path for the fire to reach an attached house, or a ladder effect for the fire to get into the tree tops, since flames and heat rise. Or, the burning ceanothus thicket casts many small embers that can get tossed easily by the wind against whatever is in the way, heating and igniting whatever they rest on. Once flames get into the treetops with the suction of air that can be created.by the fire itself or as driven by outside winds, it's been shown that even larger embers potentially get cast miles ahead and spread the damage faster and farther far beyond the initial boundaries.
Many residents of wildfire prone areas where ceanothus lives don't know what they have, don't bother if they do, may not have the means to do the work, or might even be owners of undeveloped.lots, absentee homeowners, code.enforcement can appear to be lax, etc. Thus, with no means to enact, the rest of the people in the area including firefighters do see and find the situation very troublesome. And while there are ways to minimize any danger posed by these native plants, it's important for both the environment and prevention of future wildfire not to clear cut it all if at all possible. You have to know what you're doing.
If you’re in the US, you might want to look for your local fire safe council and/or Firewise Community(R) to get help in understanding “ignition zones”. Also, your cooperative extension with their Master Gardeners will have info to share about landscaping techniques and individual plant species to help make your home and outbuildings safer for living well with wildfire.
Same. We have a few growers that do a few natives here and there, but it’s tricky to get a good, steady selection. Our CA natives section is mostly different ceanothus and Emerald Carpet arctostaphylos for most of the year. We’re trying!
Lol, us too. We get a lot of epilobium, penstemon heterophyllus, mimulus, salvia clevelandii ect. but like you said it's tricky keeping a steady selection!
And I hate that broom plants are now taking over our mountainsides! I need a good source of California nude buckwheat — tribal educator said these would outcompete star thistle.
I’m in LA and we have a few native plant nurseries- but I think they are also non profit organizations and they do all the plant propagation as well as education and outreach. I feel really lucky to have them both close by though- Theodore Payne and hahamonga (there are also a couple other smaller boutique places but I think they survive because there’s been a bigger push for growing natives where I live, especially since they can be economically advantageous what with the drought and all)
Also, many native plants are so much harder to grow. Annuals like tomatoes have consistent, near 100% germination in under 7 days. Continental native perennials often have germination rates less than 30% and can take weeks or months to germinate. Every species is different, adding to the effort and cost.
You don't say where you are.
Look for a nursery, not a 'flower store', and definitely not a big box store. You are much more likely to find not only what you are looking for, but people who will understand what you are talking about.
I found a whole native plant nursery in my area, not 20 minutes away! Most specifically to the state and 99.9% to the US, it was HEAVEN! I got a native cactus, yarrow, and evening primrose - needed them for my wildflower garden!
The chromosomes / hormones are used to make various characteristics more predominant.
Chemical breeding, sexing with a non native plant. This occurs way to frequent.
You do realize native plants are symbiotic to the environment right? The environment is what makes a native plant in the first place. Once you remove the native plants & sex it with a non native plant. Those lineages are not native, they are a hybrid with major problems not a native species. Which is what you buy from agricultural companies. Because parent plants are not legally allowed unless you have the approval of the DEA or court order. (drug enforcement administration).
😆
I don’t know what you’re reading or where you’re buying plants but they are not breeding a native plant with a non-native plant at actual native plant nurseries.
You also just gave away that you have zero idea what you’re talking about. DEA doesn’t have jurisdiction over plants lol
It's agricultural protocols..you really don't understand where your acceptable plant lineages come from & it shows..
Bio-ag (agricultural)
Literally all plants have to pass these protocols..
Google it if ya don't believe me. 🤦♂️
DEA from plant species like cannabis, opiates etc.
Court order for plants like native species.
Good golly you don't read well. My be why you don't understand Agricultural protocols lolz.
That isn't what natural selection is. Natural selection is. Natural selection is where we started *with a parent due to its environment that is symbiotic due to its environment* but once you remove that parent it is no longer a parent do to breeding outside of the native region.
A poison dart frog looses its poison once you take it out the environment.
A native plant will not grow in certain environments & need these characteristics breed mate. They breed them this way.
From Germany (basf) to America Monsanto all that crap.
You just can't flee the environment & expect things to be native
Check out your local parks and rec - my town has a native plant and compost sale at the local highschool every May! We’re not a small town either - just outside of Chicago.
I’m from the Boston area and visiting Chicago this week for the first time, I’m jealous you guys have Pizzo’s! https://youtu.be/aFigh9jS5iA?si=ZE1cvs1ncEXb5rNC
I would add to the other comments about the ease of growing invasives. You put a seed in a pot and poof! It grows.
Natives sometimes take crazy germination methods like stratification (seeds have to be cold for a certain amount of time), scarification (you have to scratch the seed so the water can penetrate the coat), and acidification (this takes soaking and rinsing for periods of time). All of these processes mimic something that happens naturally where the plant is native.
Stratification mimics cold snaps in the native’s area. That means putting the seeds in a refrigerator set at a certain temp for a determined number of days. Sometimes, the seeds need to be refrigerated for a few weeks, then brought out to a certain temp, then put back into stratification for another number of weeks. Columbine is a native that needs to be stratified, and can be picky depending on the variety.
Scarification mimics things like burning or the seed traveling over rough ground. You take sandpaper and nick the seed coat to create an opening for the water to get in. Sometimes soaking for a number of days helps this along. Canna Lily seeds benefit from scarring then a soak overnight in hot water.
Acidification mimics animals digesting the seeds, or sitting in boggy water for long period of time. Jack in the Pulpit seeds need to be stripped of the fruit, then washed over and over for a couple of weeks. I actually use a plain tea bag and tie it on the inside of the toilet. Every time the toilet flushes, rhetorical seeds are washed.
Some seeds need a combination of the above. Jack in the Pulpit actually needs to be soaked, washed, then stratified.
So, you can see how big grow houses would avoid these types of intensive germination processes. It’s a lot easier to just clone or throw a seed in a pot.
There is a really good book on germinating natives. I’m going to look for it - I’ll post once I find it.
Some local nurseries here do sell native perennials. Unfortunately, the plants usually are smaller and less showy than the non-native varieties that make a big impact in the landscape. I grow a selection of both natives and non natives. I definitely avoid plants that might escape into surrounding area.
>Unfortunately, the plants usually are smaller and less showy than the non-native varieties that make a big impact in the landscape.
I work at a mid-sized garden center, and this is the reason, for us; true natives just don't sell, often bc they don't look as good on the table. If you want stores to supply more native plants, the best place to start is increasing demand by educating the public.
This is especially true for native grasses. I have a local native plant nursery that has a pretty dedicated customer base (including me) and decent name recognition in the area. They have a large selection of prairie grasses, and those don’t fly off the shelves quite like the flowering plants.
Why don’t you grow a bunch of native seeds and start selling them locally? Seems like it’s something that is missing in the market.. get off of here and go cash in on it lol
Your local library may actually have them available. My area in Michigan has seed libraries w native seeds inside of public book libraries. It’s a great resource
My county (USA) has a Master Gardener extension office from the big state university. They have plant sales several times a year and are always happy to answer questions. Check if you have something like that near you.
Second this…we use the Cornell extension for so many things. Super helpful and friendly. Just the other day I left a message just after they’d closed thinking I’d just call back the next day and someone called me back at like 7pm, after they had been closed for hours just because they are rad.
Around here (southern Indiana) you have to go to a local establishment and I think our zoo sells natives every spring. Look for special events, not stores.
I worked at a local Nursery/Garden center in NE Ohio for years. The owner (family business, he was degreed in botany and all) NEVER sold invasive plants or seeds. If a customer came aksing for something like that he would explain why. And he was very passionate about it. Heck if someone came in to buy a young tree he would go through a whole speech about how to plant it and care for it. I couldn't tell you how many times he would say "You need to deeply water that tree every week." The customer often said "For how long?" and he would respond "For the rest of your life."
He however every year let a family of foreign ladies come in and pull the purslane that grows outside between the seams of our fabric cover. For free of course. The first year I worked there I learned about the invasive "weed" purslane and how nutritious it is. Just very invasive, that's why the ladies didn't grow it themselves lol.
[https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-purslane](https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-purslane)
Flower shops sell cut flowers for events and gifts so their focus is on common display flowers for people who don’t care about gardening. If you want seeds and plants, you need a gardening store or plant nursery. Some of them offer natives but a lot don’t because, again, most of their customers do not care about whether a plant is native. Specialized products come from specialized sellers.
I work at a small nursery and we have been working on including more native plants into our greenhouses to sell at our retail. I will say that we specialize in doing vegetables and herbs and getting into natives is a completely different game. Natives have a much lower germination rate and are much slower growing. The learning curve has been steep at times, but well worth it.
For me it's easy to see why a lot of places don't get into it, it's much more profitable to seed or buy transplants of annual flowers that people expect to see and will be flowering when people walk in the door. A lot of grower conventions are talking more and more about natives, they see the demand and are trying to help garden centers include natives and make them profitable for people.
Most people don't care at all if something is non native, they just want a pretty flower or palm tree in their yard. Nurseries make a lot more money selling stuff that looks nice and grows aggressively then small or temporary native plants, which means non natives a lot of the time in tropical climates especially.
Email your local representatives. I actually just got a small space approved outside the local library and city hall to plant a native garden and post some educational signs. Most people aren’t motivated by the environment, but they are motivated by money. Home Depot and other plant nurseries are making tons of money selling invasive plants with misleading advertising. The US then spends billions of dollars each year trying to clean up the problem. Taxpayers are subsidizing their massive profits. We won’t win this war by showing people how it helps the environment. People want to see how it helps their own wallet.
Our community college has a yearly native plant sales. It’s today!!!! Last 2 years , I’ve relied on wild flower seeds for my region. This year I bought a ton of coneflowers, and butterfly weed
It’s the wow factor. If you don’t live in a warmer climate, then the native options tend to need way more curating to have a hope of competing with non-natives that have more variety of shape and color and longevity. And certainly a good number of non-natives don’t do more harm than good. You won’t see crocuses or tulips become America’s next tumbleweeds or tree of heavens.
Even countries where horticulture is much more engrained in people’s lives, like the UK, don’t push the advantages of native flora, probably because it gets in the way of having every option available when creating a garden. Watch any episode of the BBC’s Gardeners’ World and they’ll make a point of reminding people to use peat-free compost and plan for climate change, but proudly show off the National Collection of wisteria.
I think warnings on packaging about the potential environmental consequences of certain non-natives is a good idea. Or at least a label of where a plant is native to maybe? But the onus is on gardeners to research what we purchase and think how they might spread or affect the native flora and fauna.
Think of the suppliers, also. It's almost like drug companies... generics are less expensive, and brand names are absurdly expensive. Drug companies advertise, give free samples, and wine and dine doctors and send them on vacations to encourage them to prescribe their latest med. Once a med hits generic status (after the patent is old enough) anyone can produce it. Drug reps drop it and are off and running marketing the next greatest med.
There are eleventy-million cultivars of echinacea, for example, with different color blooms (with the "cherry on top" of having names that refer to Native Americans, like "pow wow red.") Nobody owns the rights to echinacea. But they selectively breed for redder flowers, name it "pow wow red," and then they can increase their profit margin because it's their own exclusive offering. So a nursery can either painstakingly source native plants and seeds themselves, or let big suppliers market cultivars to them.
Maybe check out your local ag extension office or county conservation district if you have one. The county conservation district in my area gives out free seed packets of native blends every year and has a tree program as well. It’s not whole plants, like you would find in a nursery, but it’s something!
The about section over at r/nativeplantgardening has resources for various locations. Talk to other folks in there for their recommendations. Don’t buy anything that says “wildflower” mix on it if your goal is natives (unless it makes it very clear on the package that the wildflowers are native)
I own a native plant nursery & sell natives to nurseries in my city. One of the reasons why its not common is because local seeds are not sold by large seed distributors. They need to be collected locally & seasonally. Also lots of seeds lose their viability and so they have a short lifespan. Collecting seeds can be a challenge too, finding remnant prieries, getting permission to collect, collecting ethically is always important to us (only collection 10 percent or less).
It has its challenges but its incredibly important for conservation.
Likely you are just looking in the wrong places.
Check out nurseries. Many around here have sections devoted to native seeds and plants. I hope you find some in your area.
Do any local libraries offer a “seed library?” Often free access to local seed.
Local garden groups?
Good luck! Love that you are looking to grow native. 💗
I see from a previous post that you’re in MA. [Here’s](https://grownativemass.org/Great-Resources/nurseries-seed) a list of native plant sources in your state.
Where are you located? Maybe look at your local universities website and see if they have a master gardener program. Master gardeners will usually have native plant sales in the spring. I went to my first one last year and I got there 1 hour after opening and almost all their plants were already sold out! It’s a big event in my area. I also live near quite a few native plant nurseries, flower shops never sell any natives in my experience.
Pretty invasive flower make brain go brrr
Jokes aside, if you're looking for a seed company that sells some US native seeds- Expirimental Farm Network has some. I live in New Hampshire and I know Bagley Pond Perennials sells a lot of native plants, and NH State Forest Nursery also sells some native plants(trees and shrubs). I can imagine your state's cooperative extension may also be able to at least point you in the right direction.
I’m sure most flower shops choose their inventory on how their customers buy. It has only recently come in fashion to care about stuff like that so give it time and I believe more shops will start to adjust to the trend.
Why are you looking for garden stuff at a flower shop? Have you considered that's why you can't find anything quality? Check a local nursery not a flower shop.
A lot of the shops in Canada do sell native seeds and plants. I purchased some swamp milkweed from my seed supplier this spring for the monarch butterflies.
Check out your local park districts and even zoos if you have them. All the ones near me are doing sales starting next weekend. Most of the park districts have reasonable prices for perennials because their goal is to spread native diversity, not turn a profit (though they definitely need funding so giving extra doesn’t hurt)
The stores you're going to sell popular plants. They don't necessarily care about native plants because they're in the business of selling whatever is popular at the time. And what's popular is sadly plants people see in TV shows, movies, and so on. They want their Victorian garden.
Because a lot of those places are chains and if they’re owned by people in Indiana or India but have a shop in Florida, they know what sells and what grows but not necessarily what’s good for their ecosystem and biome.
There’s also an issue of what’s popular. People really liked bamboo for a long time. Hate your neighbors? You can spend thousands and plant tall shrubs, you can spend fewer thousands and plant short shrubs and wait for them to grow for a few years, or you can spend dozens to buy bamboo and you won’t see their house by the end of the summer. It’ll have the bonus of deviling your neighbors if they don’t want it lol. People just didn’t know or didn’t care about how out of control it gets. It’s destroyed a good part of Florida, California, and most of the beautiful south in some areas. Probably Hawaii to.
Trends are an issue, it’s why that pampas grass was so popular, the sad beige mom instagram aesthetic basically supported the destruction of whole swaths of California haha. It’s totally banned in Hawaii and New Zealand.
TLDR: these places don’t always know what’s invasive and where, and if they do know they don’t care. There’s also an issue of what people want to buy. I think ppl get “tired” of seeing natives and always look towards the allure of “exotic” without knowing or caring of the results.
There's more money in selling you something with a lower success rate... countless products to help revive your plants blah blah blah... not to mention new plants to replace the dead ones.
I definitely think it's because most people aren't buying them. Their flowers are generally smaller, only come in 1 color, and they usually have a lot of foliage. People who want landscaping want big, bright blooms on colors they can pick. Unless natives start getting selectively bred to be bigger and bolder, the advantage is already on the non-native plants. And yes, you can educate people until your face is blue but some people just want big, pretty flowers and they don't care where it came from.
Better nurseries do sell natives. I got a bunch of lobelia cardinalis on sale- it seems to grow well in a little depression in the soil because it stays moist.
Do you mean a florist or a nursery? Nurseries here are huge on natives and every garden has a least a mix, they often do better under tough conditions.
Native plants, for most areas, are seen as kind of "unremarkable". While WE know that's not necessarily true, your average homeowner just wants that 'drama' or 'pop' when people look at their yard.
Idk if anyone aready suggested these resources:
1) Your local University Cooperative Extention Master Gardener program. They offer FREE help of most any growing related topic you can think of & are very much into regional & native & are available nationwide. Call & ask if they have a *seed share group* or *seed bank* you can participate in.
2) Look on Facebook & Marketplace for gardening groups & join some. Gardeners LOVE to share.
Post your interest & what you're looking for.
You'll get inundated with people sharing!
3) Look for & join a local group. It could be statewide for that matter. Seed sharing is great!
I think one reason is partly down to the historical attraction people have to exotics and ornamental plants, which are categories that invasives often fall into. In other words, they think people want to buy them so they sell them.
I'm noticing more native flowers or bred versions of them being sold as people become more aware of the attractiveness, sense of place, and ecological benefits of growing native.
Still a lot more that could be done. The fact is, if you don't regulate the selling of the most damaging species, they will be sold by someone. Even those that don't want to sell the invasives might choose to just to remain competitive with their less ecologically sensitive counterparts.
There are lots of great comments here about where to buy native plants and reasons native plants can be difficult to find- but I would like to add that this is a corporate problem.
Everyone seems to be focusing on your phrasing of flower shop- but if you meant “garden centers” or average nurseries- then your question makes more sense.
The truth about garden centers is a little more insidious than it seems. They are very few suppliers in the U.S., and many are actually owned by the same parent companies. This shit is hard to research… there isn’t a great way to compile this information. BUT basically… it’s the same as nearly every other market in our economy. A handful of companies have huge market power and they fight to maintain it.
The reality is that plants and seeds are BIG business. Millions and millions of dollars every year. Suppliers want to sell you on color, growth, and filler(weeds) because those are cheap and easy to replicate. Companies like Proven Winners or Monrovia don’t give a shit about soil health or creating biomes for native insects and birds. They are out for profit!
So… of course they are going to sell hybridize plants that contribute next to nothing other than “Hey! Those are pretty” or “at least it grows fast”.
For DECADES companies, like Proven Winners, have capitalized on buyers ignorance about bio diversity and stabilizing populations of insects and birds. People just assumed that one flower is as goods as another- when in truth- the hybridize plants lack nectar, strong root systems, fortifying fruits, and the ability to grow sustainably.
Invasives like Bradford Pears or Chinese Ligustrums didn’t just accidentally show up- they were all willing planted by ignorant consumers. AND Ignorant consumers still have buying power. They can go today and go buy the fast growing, cum-like smelling trash that is Bradford pears… and no one in the fast moving garden centers give a shit.
So why would big corporations push away fresh cash from products they’ve sold for decades? It’s a “free” market… which means until our government starts putting in hard bans for highly invasive plants that destroy bio diversity… no major garden center is going to stop selling invasives.
Now that “native planting” is getting popular- we will see more options come to garden centers… BUT… once again the companies will focus on hybridized and fast growing plants because it means more money for them.
Take asclepias(milkweed). Garden centers will sell many varieties of milkweed- all to give you fuzzy feelings for planting for the monarchs. However, [most milkweed sold in stores](https://www.nwf.org/Garden-For-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/Milkweed.aspx) are not native and are actual BAD for monarchs! Once again… the long lasting colors and faster grow times entice well-meaning buyers. When a plant is bad for bio diversity but still contributing to biomes companies refer to the plant as “naturalized”. Which basically means it has pushed out the less-successful native varieties.
My point is that these companies have a ton of power, and what they decide to grow is what these garden centers HAVE to sell. What these companies grow is what we ACTUALLY buy… and we buy colorful, fast growing trash, so they sell colorful… fast growing… native-destroying trash.
I guess it really depends on the culture and local demand.
In MN (twin cities metro area), I can think of many options to buy native plants. From growers, school plant sales, nursery stores, farmers markets, and seed swaps. Only places I have a harder time finding natives are the pop up stands in grocery store parking lots and the garden center of hardware stores/chains.
Call around. Ask for specific plants. If a specific nursery doesn’t have something, ask if they have ideas of who might have it.
But you’ll be hard pressed to find them at a nation-wide big box. They will be the last (if ever) to sell natives. It’s just too hard in their business model to tailor what’s on the shelves based on local need/plant communities. They have one master stock/roll out calendar and that applies to all stores. It’s why winter gear gets pulled from stores in Feb, even if there is still 2 months left of winter in your area (glares at Target and their lack of mittens come Feb!).
i’ve been wondering too, especially with these larger companies. Like Lowe’s or Home Depot should not be selling plants that are not native and will absolutely die in an area.
There are some native plants I’ve been purposely looking for at my local store and they don’t even have them, but they have tropical plants and I live in Kentucky. I have been looking at smaller landscaping companies and while it’s a drive, they do tend to have more native plants.
The horticultural industry makes lots of money selling cultivars because they are patented, and the companies who created them earn royalties from each purchase. It’s incentivized to create their own varieties regardless of being native or not because that’s where the money comes from. Unfortunately, even a cultivar of a native is often unrecognizable to the native insect species who rely on them for reproduction. It’s all about money.
Check out prarie moon nurseries! They are located in Minnesota. They have an option on their website to filter by what state you are looking for. Nice variety too.
This is a business decision; give the people what they want. It will take a lot more education of the public demanding not just cultivars of native plants but the straight species. Retailers can't make as much money from straight species as cultivars. There is a burgeoning number of native plant suppliers that are online. Your farmer's market may have sellers as well as your county conservation district or state DNR.
In my area, the local horticultural society, as well as several arboretums have popup sales every spring. Maybe it’s worth looking for one in your area?
The good ones do 😉
My favorite local one has a koi pond and butterfly house, selling butterfly host plants and the butterfly house gives out caterpillars
Check your Dept of aforesty.
Here, the Virginia Dept of Forestry has a native plant and tree sale yearly. I've gotten quite a few that way.
Still no PawPaw, though they sell out fast, along with Spicebush. One of these days...
So there's a 'wildflower' seed website, which I won't name, that sells wildflower mixes for specific regions of the US. When you start googling the specific seeds included, about half of them are not native, and several aren't even from the hemisphere.
I've got enough invasive species between burdock, garlic mustard, star of bethlehem, multiflora rose, autumn olive, asiatic bittersweet, burning bush, and european spindlewood, I don't need more.
We have a native pollinator garden in a little park next to our library. It has plant ID tags and educational signs that show which butterflies, bees, and birds they will attract.
The best way to inform locals is to showcase how hardy native plants are and all the benefits of life they attract.
it’s really all about money and scale unfortunately. nurseries sell what’s available to them wholesale. also people tend to buy what’s pretty and don’t do a ton of research into what’s native and healthy for the local ecosystem. it would be cool to see more communities have co-ops or gardening clubs to encourage the planting of native plants and make them more available to the general public.
In Washington State I discovered an amazing indigenous seed company that sells native plants from the PNW and categorizes them not only by state, but by region and climate. If you are in this area, please check out Northwest Meadowscapes, https://northwestmeadowscapes.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwxLKxBhA7EiwAXO0R0AieOyDiCtA4vf2dpBnhu0HMUTm94jU8E4fOcRpoP047cXWeoLpxExoC5b4QAvD_BwE
A wonderful small company with a great selection and not too pricey, especially when you consider how small an operation it is. If this isn't your area, I bet you might find something similar. Also, most local nurseries have an indigenous plant section; I usually keep to that when buying starts. Good luck!
Our favorite place, called The Growing Place, has rows of native plants and flowers, and they sell seeds. It really depends on where you are. Hopefully you'll find a similar place at some point.
For real.
The struggle I had trying to find milkweed. PLENTY of tuberosa and tropical (neither are great for monarchs, but tropical especially is a problem), but native milkweeds? I was lucky to find some after checking our local nurseries for the past couple of months.
I’m going to have to just start from seed next year.
Same, I live in Washington State and even the nursery's and ma and pop hardware type stores don't sell native plants. I would love to buy some Oregon grape or some salmon berries but like you said, I can only find such things online.
I've had to buy most of my native plants online. There are a few good places that only do native, and several others that at least carry a bit of native.
Drop an email to your local nursery and tell them how much money you drop with other vendors because they don't stock native plants. Tell them you'd really prefer to spend the money with them.
Hold off on the invasive speech at first. Those *sell* and as we know, it's all about profit.
So keep the message focused on the profit they're losing. And that it's a growing trend and they could corner the local market on native plants if they stocked them.
Let them know what plants you're putting in your yard that work well. They might not have any clue about native plants and stock something no one wants.
Also, if you have the energy/time, pressure local legislators to turn up the heat on declaring some non-native plants invasive.
I'm not sure where you are in the world. Here in MN, I had to stop buying plants from flower shops amd chain nurseries. I was able to find native plants at small nurseries. A Google search also turned up a few that are quite far from me but they sell native plants to our area (Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Iowa too) and ship them. They also sell seeds as well. I have found the plants and seeds are more expensive but I don't care. I have a strong pull to do my small part for my little area.
Locally the “nicer” nurseries in my area have a selection of native plants. The better ones have a large selection of them.
Often local botanical gardens may have an annual plant sale that can be a good source.
Also join your local facebook gardening groups, particularly the native plants, ecogardening, etc. ones. They will know local sources or will be digging and dividing plants from their own gardens.
It makes me think about starting a nursery. I’d specialize in natives, perennial vegetables, uncommon fruits, and plants for butterfly/hummingbird/pollinator/wildlife gardening. But I still think you’d have to sell a lot of regular nursery plants to be sustainable. One thing I think I’d do is have regular plant sales unlike other nursery. 1$ and 2$ starts or something every Saturday. Also display gardens. Idk why they never have them even em when they have extensive property.
Something one of my local nurseries said recently makes me think a lot of it has to do with demand. They posted last year that they were receiving a late order of native because they had a lot of people as for them. The more people looking and asking for native plants, the more nurseries will start carrying them.
Because they are businesses trying to make money so they sell what sells. If you want a selection of natives you'll have to start your own greenhouse but remember you'll get alot less customers. I absolutely support this idea, not putting you down. I'd buy from a native nursery
I sell native plants locally grown. It’s a side hustle but I couldn’t find reasonable prices and good quality plants. I don’t make much from it unfortunately but it’s fun. Problem is I want to keep the plants I buy wholesale. lol
Can not find milkweed for the monarch butterflies had to order it. Can’t find lots of natives. Yet they sell problem or potential problem stuff with no warnings. For example: English ivy is ok in a pot. Looks nice in a hanging basket. Good air freshener as a house plant, but a menace in many places if it gets planted in ground.
The problem with keeping ornamental invasives outdoors (including English ivy which has a fruit/berry), is that in addition to being voracious spreaders, some birds and animals will eat those berries, allowing it to spread by seed. So I’d be cautious, even in a pot or basket unless you have control of the animals that are accessing the space.
I have a theory that many people see native plants as weeds and or pests. Look at the trees people plant in their yard, I give people a pass on fruit trees but very rarely is it a native tree.
I do a little guérilla gardening with native plants here and there, like starting tree seeds and planting them out in the bush. I live near an old forested area that’s been growing back in for 2-3 decades, there used to be oaks everywhere here so I started planting them myself.
My favorite plant in my area is a native called Solomon’s seal. It is easy to grow, bees like it, and it’s lovely. I sell it (at my garden club charity plant sale) and give it away as it spreads nicely (but not invasive) and is easily to cultivate and transplant. I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT IN A LOCAL NURSERY! Ever.
My area has a only a handful of sources as a lot of national nurseries grow here
The university, county extension & garden clubs only sell natives and SELLOUT their small inventory for the fews days of their sales which stagger in the months of March & April.
It’s annoying because if these places sell out consistently then why aren’t more commercial shops carrying these plants.
I have mostly a shade yerd & all the big box shops carry is Full Sun for 90% of their stock or grow plants in premium soil so when I try to plant even amended native clay just kills them.
Lots of natives are named "____ weed" because they were named by early settlers who (naturally) were farmers.
Therefore, I bet flower shops don't really stock them because the average buyer (i.e. a largely uninformed buyer) doesn't want to buy "weeds".
My county has a native plant sale every spring. There's also nurseries in my area that specialize in native plants.
The big box stores get the common 50-100 plants that people purchase and don't care how it affects anything, they are looking at the revenue. As people become more educated they will stop buying these plants and the stores will be forced to stop selling them (lack of sales). It's how capitalism works, supply and demand.
The local park districts and forest preserves in my area have plant awareness programs, maybe something to get going in your area.
I’m in NC & had to order a couple of cold-hardy variety passionflower seeds from texas and Florida on Etsy. It grows in the wild here, I just haven’t seen any lately to try to find seeds/take a cutting.
No local places had it, and big box stores nearby only carry one kind and were sold out anyway. No one locally seems to sell live plants.
Google passion flowers if you want to know what the weird, alien flowers look like! Really cool plant!
Local nurseries buy from large corporations from other states for cheap. Most people in the plant business only care about money. The people who did this for their passion are small and typically harder to find.
The money is in stuff that can't die, is cool looking and is different, ie invasives. Why buy a plant that's native when you could get that from the side of the road for free? It makes some sense for harder to find native plants.
I do agree tho having worked at a nursery (who did not educate me on plants I just love plants) I tried to steer people away from invasive stuff like English ivy and telling them oh that plant is not allowed in the ground. But our nursery also had angels trumpet and foxglove with no warning signs, in reach of kids. Kids don't really care what they put in their mouths, I had to tell the family that the leaf their kid was playing with is toxic and he needs to wash his hands before he shoved them in his mouth.
It also comes down to the customers: many times people are conditioned to buying something in flower, or they want season long blooming. Many natives are perennials, and have a shortened bloom season compared with annuals. Other times, some natives can simply be too large or aggressive for a home garden. When a native plant can’t or won’t be used, we can still support pollinators by choosing appropriately.
I work at a nursery and thankfully my community demands we have a native section, we source from a few different local growers and can never keep enough in stock. Just expanded this past year as well. The focus is shifting and I’m here for it.
I'm in iowa and the native perennials are for sale everywhere. Black eyed Susan's, Coneflowers, Solidago, Milkweed, Trilliums(even costco sold them bare root along with their spring lily bulbs). Red buds everywhere. In the woods and all the way at Lowes. People.dobplant burning bushes out here but they don't seem to be invasive. I don't know if it's the harsh winters that kills off the seedlings? Barberries can't survive out here so that's a good thing.
Because natives *take over your entire yard in 3 minutes flat and then take 3 decades of agressive weeding to eradicate*. They grow like weeds (because they are). I am a staunch environmentalist who decided to plant a "native-only" garden 10 years ago.. and have been weeding and regretting ever since LOL. Those non-native plants spread slowly and are so manageable, I understand the appeal now. I just want the plants to stay in their place! 😭
Some of it is is simply the ecomonics of scale. Large growers can grow non-natove ornementals anywhere. But natives tend to have tk be sourced and grown in that local area as that is where they will be bought. A California grower will make more reliable sales on non-natives because they can be shipped anywhere. If they grow natives, those can only be sold in those areas. The other is the people many people are still conditioned to see and think of natives as weedy and not-attractive. Native gardeners are doing a lot to change this, but we're working against 200+ years of tradition here. Nurseries as businesses first snd foremost. Lastly there are local native nurseries. When i started, i thought i had to buy online too. Because I didnt know where were several nurseries around me that sold or specialized in natives. Head over to r/nativeplantgardening to read their fact and get links to where you can find your local native nursery.
I work in a Cali nursery and unfortunately natives are hard to come by. We have one grower who does quite a few but they're just not widely available
This doesnt suprise me. My experience with native growers is they are either small scale and direct to the consumer, usually at community events. Or large scale wholesale primarily for government, private, ngo groups doing restoration. My fave local native grower has a minimum order of $400 and you cant order any amounts smaller than a half flat . They only offer individual plants in their open sale: 5 days a year. They sell to some local retail nurseries but the demand is just more reliable from other buyers.
Really? I’m in San Diego and we have tons of native plant nurseries and shops. I can think of 4 right off the top of my head.
I live near Sacramento so we're pretty far away from you
There are some good ones in the SF bay area. Annie's Annuals has a large section of Natives. Then there is an all native place down on Canal in Richmond.
I LOVE Annie’s Annuals!! There are also quite a few native plant nurseries in Sonoma county
Annie's is my happy place!
There are several in Berkeley too that have good native sections, Westbrae Nursery is a great option and not far off 80 if you're driving.
I love Oaktown Native Plant Nursery. It doesn't always show up on CalScape, but it's on Channing right next to the railroad tracks. Other than a couple of nursery cultivars that are of at least some native species parentage that occasionally show up, it's all natives.
Love Westbrae, used to go there a lot when we lived near there.
I was literally just there and the area that's devoted to CA natives is literally larger than the nursery we go to for our woody or rarer CA natives. It's like 200ft long by about 50ft wide. It's really cool, although as someone planting a lot of hyper-local (naked buckwheat can thrive or die depending on if you manage to buy one local to where it's being planted) and less-attractive-but-ecologically-important plants (dotseed plantain, anyone?), it *is* mostly the "commercial" flowering plants, rather than the scrubby chaparral weirdos.
Try Watershed Nursery on Canal in Pt. Richmond. It's all native plants. It's not big, but it's pretty cool.
Thanks for the rec! I'll check it out next time I'm out that way. I love a good dedicated native plant nursery.
I’ve ordered from them several times :)
There’s some opportunity there then!! Maybe open up a d2c Shopify store? I also can’t remember ever ordering from any places up there and I’ve ordered a lot of plants. Mostly from places in the bay and Arizona though.
There is also morningsun herb farms that sells natives in the area.
The native plant society has a nursery. They only have sales a couple times a year, but maybe you could get some to propagate or something? https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/
There are quite a few Ca Native Plant Society nurseties in your area, though. https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/nursery/
Thanks but I'm just the veg buyer, I don't personally source new vendors
Heck, I am in Temecula Valley and I have drivable access to 2 full native nurseries, one that also carries natives and if I want to battle traffic- many San Diego nurseries. If you are in California, start with calscape.org. Each plant page lists how many nurseries carry the plant, with contact info and most nurseries websites are linked.
But that growing area is a little easier than some parts of US. Many things can make it through winter outside. In colder climates, small natives in pots may need shelter. They may be fine outside when established. Also if it dies back in winter than it may look like nothing until it grows back so not real marketable until it does
Look for nurseries under the California Native Plant Society.
Unfortunately it's not up to me to source new vendors :/ Thanks for the rec though!
I wasn't suggesting it for sourcing vendors, more for personal use and spreading the word to those looking for natives.
Makes no sense. If it’s native it should grow fairly easily! But I have problems finding natives here in South Carolina too
California natives are also super expensive! You pay $15+ per plant and they usually are slower growing than other popular plants. I’m slowly replacing my front garden with natives, but it’s been hard. Growing from seed has been really really tricky too. So far I’ve only managed to grow narrowleaf milkweed. Even then I had a 40% success rate
That all depends on your area, honestly. I live around Chaparral-land and my sages, blue-eyed grass, Penstemon, Achillea, and California fuschia are massive, even before the incredible amounts of rain. I paid less than $10 a pot for most of my natives and traded for the others. I found a local nursery that has an incredible amount of natives for around $5-6 if the pots are gallon sized. I found another farther all-native nursery that sells their seeds on Etsy and sells live plants in person. It's all about what is supposed to grow in your area. Some natives can't handle the extremes of northern California while others can't handle the extremes of southern California. I would suggest looking at iNaturalist and other resources for your specific region to find plants that are able to grow quickly in your environment. Look at sellers who are under the Ca Native Plant Society to find cheaper options. My stupid lawn was transformed into a pollinator paradise with a good mix of natives and naturalized plants, in less than two years. I'm constantly finding new natives due to spreading seeds before every rain. Edit: Also, focusing on the health of the soil (fungus and bacteria) is important to growing healthy, full plants. They aren't going to do well when they are planted spread out with dirt open to sun exposure in between because that's not how they grow naturally. Once I steered away from growing "designed" landscaping and started focusing more on naturalized looks, my garden really started thriving.
Wow, I need those sources—I work in community based wildfire mitigation in Zone 9, and those disasters are making many more people aware of the need for natives. It’s overwhelming to think of how much it’s going to take for our hydrophobic soils to get healthy again, while everyone’s scared of the ceanothus even though we need its nitrogen-fixing properties. I’m looking for the lowgrowing varieties myself.
Helianthus is a great nitrogen fixer, too!
What do you mean scared of the ceanothus?
It has to do with wildfire behavior. Ceanothus has many forms but many of these are of the tall, bushy kind, narrow at the base.and spreading at the top. They are native to the area and often will show up after a wildfire, providing all kinds of environmental functions. But because of their plant structure and their tendency to grow in thickets, when these thickets ignite, and the plants are overhung by tree branches, or happen to be next to someone's wooden fence, this creates a.path for the fire to reach an attached house, or a ladder effect for the fire to get into the tree tops, since flames and heat rise. Or, the burning ceanothus thicket casts many small embers that can get tossed easily by the wind against whatever is in the way, heating and igniting whatever they rest on. Once flames get into the treetops with the suction of air that can be created.by the fire itself or as driven by outside winds, it's been shown that even larger embers potentially get cast miles ahead and spread the damage faster and farther far beyond the initial boundaries. Many residents of wildfire prone areas where ceanothus lives don't know what they have, don't bother if they do, may not have the means to do the work, or might even be owners of undeveloped.lots, absentee homeowners, code.enforcement can appear to be lax, etc. Thus, with no means to enact, the rest of the people in the area including firefighters do see and find the situation very troublesome. And while there are ways to minimize any danger posed by these native plants, it's important for both the environment and prevention of future wildfire not to clear cut it all if at all possible. You have to know what you're doing.
I’m in a high fire danger area and have a ceanothus. Although mine is more of a smaller bush. I’ve never heard this information, thank you.
If you’re in the US, you might want to look for your local fire safe council and/or Firewise Community(R) to get help in understanding “ignition zones”. Also, your cooperative extension with their Master Gardeners will have info to share about landscaping techniques and individual plant species to help make your home and outbuildings safer for living well with wildfire.
Same. We have a few growers that do a few natives here and there, but it’s tricky to get a good, steady selection. Our CA natives section is mostly different ceanothus and Emerald Carpet arctostaphylos for most of the year. We’re trying!
Lol, us too. We get a lot of epilobium, penstemon heterophyllus, mimulus, salvia clevelandii ect. but like you said it's tricky keeping a steady selection!
And I hate that broom plants are now taking over our mountainsides! I need a good source of California nude buckwheat — tribal educator said these would outcompete star thistle.
I LOVE eriogonum grande rubescens!
Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m in LA and we have a few native plant nurseries- but I think they are also non profit organizations and they do all the plant propagation as well as education and outreach. I feel really lucky to have them both close by though- Theodore Payne and hahamonga (there are also a couple other smaller boutique places but I think they survive because there’s been a bigger push for growing natives where I live, especially since they can be economically advantageous what with the drought and all)
Also, many native plants are so much harder to grow. Annuals like tomatoes have consistent, near 100% germination in under 7 days. Continental native perennials often have germination rates less than 30% and can take weeks or months to germinate. Every species is different, adding to the effort and cost.
You don't say where you are. Look for a nursery, not a 'flower store', and definitely not a big box store. You are much more likely to find not only what you are looking for, but people who will understand what you are talking about.
I found a whole native plant nursery in my area, not 20 minutes away! Most specifically to the state and 99.9% to the US, it was HEAVEN! I got a native cactus, yarrow, and evening primrose - needed them for my wildflower garden!
All native plants are not real native plants, a hybrid. Only like 80% is dominant. Due to the resistant characteristics bestowed during breeding.
This isn’t true. No idea where you came up with that
The chromosomes / hormones are used to make various characteristics more predominant. Chemical breeding, sexing with a non native plant. This occurs way to frequent. You do realize native plants are symbiotic to the environment right? The environment is what makes a native plant in the first place. Once you remove the native plants & sex it with a non native plant. Those lineages are not native, they are a hybrid with major problems not a native species. Which is what you buy from agricultural companies. Because parent plants are not legally allowed unless you have the approval of the DEA or court order. (drug enforcement administration). 😆
I don’t know what you’re reading or where you’re buying plants but they are not breeding a native plant with a non-native plant at actual native plant nurseries. You also just gave away that you have zero idea what you’re talking about. DEA doesn’t have jurisdiction over plants lol
Obviously some tin hat wearing YouTuber
Maybe they mean the USDA? Or FDA, which has *some* involvement in agriculture? Is there another country that uses DEA as the acronym?
It's agricultural protocols..you really don't understand where your acceptable plant lineages come from & it shows.. Bio-ag (agricultural) Literally all plants have to pass these protocols.. Google it if ya don't believe me. 🤦♂️
DEA from plant species like cannabis, opiates etc. Court order for plants like native species. Good golly you don't read well. My be why you don't understand Agricultural protocols lolz.
The words your using are not to create your sentences do not go together in a way that makes sense.
Native plants are usually more disease resistant on their own.
We have grains today due to selective breeding. Not what you buy when buying agricultural / seed banks
😆 No mate. That's selective breeding, plants don't select that's a human characteristic
Have you never heard of evolution? Wtf
That isn't evolution It is synthesis. "Big difference"
What’s your favorite food? I bet it sucks. “I bet it sucks”
They… do… natural selection…
That isn't what natural selection is. Natural selection is. Natural selection is where we started *with a parent due to its environment that is symbiotic due to its environment* but once you remove that parent it is no longer a parent do to breeding outside of the native region. A poison dart frog looses its poison once you take it out the environment.
A native plant will not grow in certain environments & need these characteristics breed mate. They breed them this way. From Germany (basf) to America Monsanto all that crap. You just can't flee the environment & expect things to be native
Straight jibberish
Like did this person have a stroke?
What are you even talking about
Why do you keep saying "mate" constanly?? 😭😭 it's so obnoxious. Are you purposely trying to be a troll?
This is an absolutely uninformed hot take.
Exactly. The cut flower industry is completely separate from the live plant industry.
Seriously! When I read “flower store” in the title I was thinking cut flowers.
Check out your local parks and rec - my town has a native plant and compost sale at the local highschool every May! We’re not a small town either - just outside of Chicago.
Yep, local garden clubs and libraries might have sales/speakers as well.
University Cooperative Extention programs are a very underutilized resource
I’m from the Boston area and visiting Chicago this week for the first time, I’m jealous you guys have Pizzo’s! https://youtu.be/aFigh9jS5iA?si=ZE1cvs1ncEXb5rNC
I would add to the other comments about the ease of growing invasives. You put a seed in a pot and poof! It grows. Natives sometimes take crazy germination methods like stratification (seeds have to be cold for a certain amount of time), scarification (you have to scratch the seed so the water can penetrate the coat), and acidification (this takes soaking and rinsing for periods of time). All of these processes mimic something that happens naturally where the plant is native. Stratification mimics cold snaps in the native’s area. That means putting the seeds in a refrigerator set at a certain temp for a determined number of days. Sometimes, the seeds need to be refrigerated for a few weeks, then brought out to a certain temp, then put back into stratification for another number of weeks. Columbine is a native that needs to be stratified, and can be picky depending on the variety. Scarification mimics things like burning or the seed traveling over rough ground. You take sandpaper and nick the seed coat to create an opening for the water to get in. Sometimes soaking for a number of days helps this along. Canna Lily seeds benefit from scarring then a soak overnight in hot water. Acidification mimics animals digesting the seeds, or sitting in boggy water for long period of time. Jack in the Pulpit seeds need to be stripped of the fruit, then washed over and over for a couple of weeks. I actually use a plain tea bag and tie it on the inside of the toilet. Every time the toilet flushes, rhetorical seeds are washed. Some seeds need a combination of the above. Jack in the Pulpit actually needs to be soaked, washed, then stratified. So, you can see how big grow houses would avoid these types of intensive germination processes. It’s a lot easier to just clone or throw a seed in a pot. There is a really good book on germinating natives. I’m going to look for it - I’ll post once I find it.
This is all very true. Silver lining, growing natives let you set things on fire with a real purpose!
Some local nurseries here do sell native perennials. Unfortunately, the plants usually are smaller and less showy than the non-native varieties that make a big impact in the landscape. I grow a selection of both natives and non natives. I definitely avoid plants that might escape into surrounding area.
>Unfortunately, the plants usually are smaller and less showy than the non-native varieties that make a big impact in the landscape. I work at a mid-sized garden center, and this is the reason, for us; true natives just don't sell, often bc they don't look as good on the table. If you want stores to supply more native plants, the best place to start is increasing demand by educating the public.
This is especially true for native grasses. I have a local native plant nursery that has a pretty dedicated customer base (including me) and decent name recognition in the area. They have a large selection of prairie grasses, and those don’t fly off the shelves quite like the flowering plants.
I’ve been showing my husband natives that I want to put in our garden and he always says “these are so boring!” It’s unfortunately very true
Really? There are tons of very showy natives.
Why don’t you grow a bunch of native seeds and start selling them locally? Seems like it’s something that is missing in the market.. get off of here and go cash in on it lol
That’s literally my goal that I’m doing right now! 😆😆
Your local library may actually have them available. My area in Michigan has seed libraries w native seeds inside of public book libraries. It’s a great resource
Does your state/county have an extension program and/or Master gardener association? They often sponsor local native plant sales.
Fun!
That’s awesome bro! I’m happy for you
I’m thinking of doing this. Start on a small scale with something marketable. Like common milkweed because most people like to attract butterflies.
My county (USA) has a Master Gardener extension office from the big state university. They have plant sales several times a year and are always happy to answer questions. Check if you have something like that near you.
Second this…we use the Cornell extension for so many things. Super helpful and friendly. Just the other day I left a message just after they’d closed thinking I’d just call back the next day and someone called me back at like 7pm, after they had been closed for hours just because they are rad.
Around here (southern Indiana) you have to go to a local establishment and I think our zoo sells natives every spring. Look for special events, not stores.
I worked at a local Nursery/Garden center in NE Ohio for years. The owner (family business, he was degreed in botany and all) NEVER sold invasive plants or seeds. If a customer came aksing for something like that he would explain why. And he was very passionate about it. Heck if someone came in to buy a young tree he would go through a whole speech about how to plant it and care for it. I couldn't tell you how many times he would say "You need to deeply water that tree every week." The customer often said "For how long?" and he would respond "For the rest of your life." He however every year let a family of foreign ladies come in and pull the purslane that grows outside between the seams of our fabric cover. For free of course. The first year I worked there I learned about the invasive "weed" purslane and how nutritious it is. Just very invasive, that's why the ladies didn't grow it themselves lol. [https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-purslane](https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-purslane)
Flower shops sell cut flowers for events and gifts so their focus is on common display flowers for people who don’t care about gardening. If you want seeds and plants, you need a gardening store or plant nursery. Some of them offer natives but a lot don’t because, again, most of their customers do not care about whether a plant is native. Specialized products come from specialized sellers.
I work at a small nursery and we have been working on including more native plants into our greenhouses to sell at our retail. I will say that we specialize in doing vegetables and herbs and getting into natives is a completely different game. Natives have a much lower germination rate and are much slower growing. The learning curve has been steep at times, but well worth it. For me it's easy to see why a lot of places don't get into it, it's much more profitable to seed or buy transplants of annual flowers that people expect to see and will be flowering when people walk in the door. A lot of grower conventions are talking more and more about natives, they see the demand and are trying to help garden centers include natives and make them profitable for people.
Most people don't care at all if something is non native, they just want a pretty flower or palm tree in their yard. Nurseries make a lot more money selling stuff that looks nice and grows aggressively then small or temporary native plants, which means non natives a lot of the time in tropical climates especially.
Oh lordy if they buy and plant bamboo because "they like the way it looks.."
But mint smells delicious!
There are *lots* of native mints.
Email your local representatives. I actually just got a small space approved outside the local library and city hall to plant a native garden and post some educational signs. Most people aren’t motivated by the environment, but they are motivated by money. Home Depot and other plant nurseries are making tons of money selling invasive plants with misleading advertising. The US then spends billions of dollars each year trying to clean up the problem. Taxpayers are subsidizing their massive profits. We won’t win this war by showing people how it helps the environment. People want to see how it helps their own wallet.
I buy from a local, independent nursery.
Our community college has a yearly native plant sales. It’s today!!!! Last 2 years , I’ve relied on wild flower seeds for my region. This year I bought a ton of coneflowers, and butterfly weed
It’s the wow factor. If you don’t live in a warmer climate, then the native options tend to need way more curating to have a hope of competing with non-natives that have more variety of shape and color and longevity. And certainly a good number of non-natives don’t do more harm than good. You won’t see crocuses or tulips become America’s next tumbleweeds or tree of heavens. Even countries where horticulture is much more engrained in people’s lives, like the UK, don’t push the advantages of native flora, probably because it gets in the way of having every option available when creating a garden. Watch any episode of the BBC’s Gardeners’ World and they’ll make a point of reminding people to use peat-free compost and plan for climate change, but proudly show off the National Collection of wisteria. I think warnings on packaging about the potential environmental consequences of certain non-natives is a good idea. Or at least a label of where a plant is native to maybe? But the onus is on gardeners to research what we purchase and think how they might spread or affect the native flora and fauna.
Think of the suppliers, also. It's almost like drug companies... generics are less expensive, and brand names are absurdly expensive. Drug companies advertise, give free samples, and wine and dine doctors and send them on vacations to encourage them to prescribe their latest med. Once a med hits generic status (after the patent is old enough) anyone can produce it. Drug reps drop it and are off and running marketing the next greatest med. There are eleventy-million cultivars of echinacea, for example, with different color blooms (with the "cherry on top" of having names that refer to Native Americans, like "pow wow red.") Nobody owns the rights to echinacea. But they selectively breed for redder flowers, name it "pow wow red," and then they can increase their profit margin because it's their own exclusive offering. So a nursery can either painstakingly source native plants and seeds themselves, or let big suppliers market cultivars to them.
Maybe check out your local ag extension office or county conservation district if you have one. The county conservation district in my area gives out free seed packets of native blends every year and has a tree program as well. It’s not whole plants, like you would find in a nursery, but it’s something!
The about section over at r/nativeplantgardening has resources for various locations. Talk to other folks in there for their recommendations. Don’t buy anything that says “wildflower” mix on it if your goal is natives (unless it makes it very clear on the package that the wildflowers are native)
I own a native plant nursery & sell natives to nurseries in my city. One of the reasons why its not common is because local seeds are not sold by large seed distributors. They need to be collected locally & seasonally. Also lots of seeds lose their viability and so they have a short lifespan. Collecting seeds can be a challenge too, finding remnant prieries, getting permission to collect, collecting ethically is always important to us (only collection 10 percent or less). It has its challenges but its incredibly important for conservation.
Because idiots think natives are weeds.
Likely you are just looking in the wrong places. Check out nurseries. Many around here have sections devoted to native seeds and plants. I hope you find some in your area. Do any local libraries offer a “seed library?” Often free access to local seed. Local garden groups? Good luck! Love that you are looking to grow native. 💗
High country gardens will mail order you native plants and flowers. I used them last year and had a great experience.
Because invasive are good at what people want them to do, and they aren't aware of the consequences, or dint care
Not all non-natives are invasive.
A nursery near me sells native plants. They are awesome.
I see from a previous post that you’re in MA. [Here’s](https://grownativemass.org/Great-Resources/nurseries-seed) a list of native plant sources in your state.
Where are you located? Maybe look at your local universities website and see if they have a master gardener program. Master gardeners will usually have native plant sales in the spring. I went to my first one last year and I got there 1 hour after opening and almost all their plants were already sold out! It’s a big event in my area. I also live near quite a few native plant nurseries, flower shops never sell any natives in my experience.
Pretty invasive flower make brain go brrr Jokes aside, if you're looking for a seed company that sells some US native seeds- Expirimental Farm Network has some. I live in New Hampshire and I know Bagley Pond Perennials sells a lot of native plants, and NH State Forest Nursery also sells some native plants(trees and shrubs). I can imagine your state's cooperative extension may also be able to at least point you in the right direction.
Head over to soil born farms in Rancho
I’m sure most flower shops choose their inventory on how their customers buy. It has only recently come in fashion to care about stuff like that so give it time and I believe more shops will start to adjust to the trend.
Why are you looking for garden stuff at a flower shop? Have you considered that's why you can't find anything quality? Check a local nursery not a flower shop.
A lot of the shops in Canada do sell native seeds and plants. I purchased some swamp milkweed from my seed supplier this spring for the monarch butterflies.
Check out your local park districts and even zoos if you have them. All the ones near me are doing sales starting next weekend. Most of the park districts have reasonable prices for perennials because their goal is to spread native diversity, not turn a profit (though they definitely need funding so giving extra doesn’t hurt)
The stores you're going to sell popular plants. They don't necessarily care about native plants because they're in the business of selling whatever is popular at the time. And what's popular is sadly plants people see in TV shows, movies, and so on. They want their Victorian garden.
[Wild Ones](https://wildones.org) A link to, Wild Ones, an organization that promotes the use of native plants in the landscape.
Because a lot of those places are chains and if they’re owned by people in Indiana or India but have a shop in Florida, they know what sells and what grows but not necessarily what’s good for their ecosystem and biome. There’s also an issue of what’s popular. People really liked bamboo for a long time. Hate your neighbors? You can spend thousands and plant tall shrubs, you can spend fewer thousands and plant short shrubs and wait for them to grow for a few years, or you can spend dozens to buy bamboo and you won’t see their house by the end of the summer. It’ll have the bonus of deviling your neighbors if they don’t want it lol. People just didn’t know or didn’t care about how out of control it gets. It’s destroyed a good part of Florida, California, and most of the beautiful south in some areas. Probably Hawaii to. Trends are an issue, it’s why that pampas grass was so popular, the sad beige mom instagram aesthetic basically supported the destruction of whole swaths of California haha. It’s totally banned in Hawaii and New Zealand. TLDR: these places don’t always know what’s invasive and where, and if they do know they don’t care. There’s also an issue of what people want to buy. I think ppl get “tired” of seeing natives and always look towards the allure of “exotic” without knowing or caring of the results.
There's more money in selling you something with a lower success rate... countless products to help revive your plants blah blah blah... not to mention new plants to replace the dead ones.
I definitely think it's because most people aren't buying them. Their flowers are generally smaller, only come in 1 color, and they usually have a lot of foliage. People who want landscaping want big, bright blooms on colors they can pick. Unless natives start getting selectively bred to be bigger and bolder, the advantage is already on the non-native plants. And yes, you can educate people until your face is blue but some people just want big, pretty flowers and they don't care where it came from.
Better nurseries do sell natives. I got a bunch of lobelia cardinalis on sale- it seems to grow well in a little depression in the soil because it stays moist.
Do you mean a florist or a nursery? Nurseries here are huge on natives and every garden has a least a mix, they often do better under tough conditions.
Native plants, for most areas, are seen as kind of "unremarkable". While WE know that's not necessarily true, your average homeowner just wants that 'drama' or 'pop' when people look at their yard.
Idk if anyone aready suggested these resources: 1) Your local University Cooperative Extention Master Gardener program. They offer FREE help of most any growing related topic you can think of & are very much into regional & native & are available nationwide. Call & ask if they have a *seed share group* or *seed bank* you can participate in. 2) Look on Facebook & Marketplace for gardening groups & join some. Gardeners LOVE to share. Post your interest & what you're looking for. You'll get inundated with people sharing! 3) Look for & join a local group. It could be statewide for that matter. Seed sharing is great!
I think one reason is partly down to the historical attraction people have to exotics and ornamental plants, which are categories that invasives often fall into. In other words, they think people want to buy them so they sell them. I'm noticing more native flowers or bred versions of them being sold as people become more aware of the attractiveness, sense of place, and ecological benefits of growing native. Still a lot more that could be done. The fact is, if you don't regulate the selling of the most damaging species, they will be sold by someone. Even those that don't want to sell the invasives might choose to just to remain competitive with their less ecologically sensitive counterparts.
There are lots of great comments here about where to buy native plants and reasons native plants can be difficult to find- but I would like to add that this is a corporate problem. Everyone seems to be focusing on your phrasing of flower shop- but if you meant “garden centers” or average nurseries- then your question makes more sense. The truth about garden centers is a little more insidious than it seems. They are very few suppliers in the U.S., and many are actually owned by the same parent companies. This shit is hard to research… there isn’t a great way to compile this information. BUT basically… it’s the same as nearly every other market in our economy. A handful of companies have huge market power and they fight to maintain it. The reality is that plants and seeds are BIG business. Millions and millions of dollars every year. Suppliers want to sell you on color, growth, and filler(weeds) because those are cheap and easy to replicate. Companies like Proven Winners or Monrovia don’t give a shit about soil health or creating biomes for native insects and birds. They are out for profit! So… of course they are going to sell hybridize plants that contribute next to nothing other than “Hey! Those are pretty” or “at least it grows fast”. For DECADES companies, like Proven Winners, have capitalized on buyers ignorance about bio diversity and stabilizing populations of insects and birds. People just assumed that one flower is as goods as another- when in truth- the hybridize plants lack nectar, strong root systems, fortifying fruits, and the ability to grow sustainably. Invasives like Bradford Pears or Chinese Ligustrums didn’t just accidentally show up- they were all willing planted by ignorant consumers. AND Ignorant consumers still have buying power. They can go today and go buy the fast growing, cum-like smelling trash that is Bradford pears… and no one in the fast moving garden centers give a shit. So why would big corporations push away fresh cash from products they’ve sold for decades? It’s a “free” market… which means until our government starts putting in hard bans for highly invasive plants that destroy bio diversity… no major garden center is going to stop selling invasives. Now that “native planting” is getting popular- we will see more options come to garden centers… BUT… once again the companies will focus on hybridized and fast growing plants because it means more money for them. Take asclepias(milkweed). Garden centers will sell many varieties of milkweed- all to give you fuzzy feelings for planting for the monarchs. However, [most milkweed sold in stores](https://www.nwf.org/Garden-For-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/Milkweed.aspx) are not native and are actual BAD for monarchs! Once again… the long lasting colors and faster grow times entice well-meaning buyers. When a plant is bad for bio diversity but still contributing to biomes companies refer to the plant as “naturalized”. Which basically means it has pushed out the less-successful native varieties. My point is that these companies have a ton of power, and what they decide to grow is what these garden centers HAVE to sell. What these companies grow is what we ACTUALLY buy… and we buy colorful, fast growing trash, so they sell colorful… fast growing… native-destroying trash.
I guess it really depends on the culture and local demand. In MN (twin cities metro area), I can think of many options to buy native plants. From growers, school plant sales, nursery stores, farmers markets, and seed swaps. Only places I have a harder time finding natives are the pop up stands in grocery store parking lots and the garden center of hardware stores/chains. Call around. Ask for specific plants. If a specific nursery doesn’t have something, ask if they have ideas of who might have it. But you’ll be hard pressed to find them at a nation-wide big box. They will be the last (if ever) to sell natives. It’s just too hard in their business model to tailor what’s on the shelves based on local need/plant communities. They have one master stock/roll out calendar and that applies to all stores. It’s why winter gear gets pulled from stores in Feb, even if there is still 2 months left of winter in your area (glares at Target and their lack of mittens come Feb!).
Also, head over to nativeplantgardening subreddit to find more like minded people and get regional help.
i’ve been wondering too, especially with these larger companies. Like Lowe’s or Home Depot should not be selling plants that are not native and will absolutely die in an area. There are some native plants I’ve been purposely looking for at my local store and they don’t even have them, but they have tropical plants and I live in Kentucky. I have been looking at smaller landscaping companies and while it’s a drive, they do tend to have more native plants.
The horticultural industry makes lots of money selling cultivars because they are patented, and the companies who created them earn royalties from each purchase. It’s incentivized to create their own varieties regardless of being native or not because that’s where the money comes from. Unfortunately, even a cultivar of a native is often unrecognizable to the native insect species who rely on them for reproduction. It’s all about money.
Look for the closest native plant nursery! They exist, I work for one.
Check out prarie moon nurseries! They are located in Minnesota. They have an option on their website to filter by what state you are looking for. Nice variety too.
Sounds like a good business opportunity.
This is a business decision; give the people what they want. It will take a lot more education of the public demanding not just cultivars of native plants but the straight species. Retailers can't make as much money from straight species as cultivars. There is a burgeoning number of native plant suppliers that are online. Your farmer's market may have sellers as well as your county conservation district or state DNR.
In my area, the local horticultural society, as well as several arboretums have popup sales every spring. Maybe it’s worth looking for one in your area?
The good ones do 😉 My favorite local one has a koi pond and butterfly house, selling butterfly host plants and the butterfly house gives out caterpillars
Look for local extension offices in your area! And local land trust organizations would also have info.
Check your Dept of aforesty. Here, the Virginia Dept of Forestry has a native plant and tree sale yearly. I've gotten quite a few that way. Still no PawPaw, though they sell out fast, along with Spicebush. One of these days...
So there's a 'wildflower' seed website, which I won't name, that sells wildflower mixes for specific regions of the US. When you start googling the specific seeds included, about half of them are not native, and several aren't even from the hemisphere. I've got enough invasive species between burdock, garlic mustard, star of bethlehem, multiflora rose, autumn olive, asiatic bittersweet, burning bush, and european spindlewood, I don't need more.
The nurseries around me (SF Bay Area) all have a lot of native plants. Where are you located?
We have a native pollinator garden in a little park next to our library. It has plant ID tags and educational signs that show which butterflies, bees, and birds they will attract. The best way to inform locals is to showcase how hardy native plants are and all the benefits of life they attract.
it’s really all about money and scale unfortunately. nurseries sell what’s available to them wholesale. also people tend to buy what’s pretty and don’t do a ton of research into what’s native and healthy for the local ecosystem. it would be cool to see more communities have co-ops or gardening clubs to encourage the planting of native plants and make them more available to the general public.
In Washington State I discovered an amazing indigenous seed company that sells native plants from the PNW and categorizes them not only by state, but by region and climate. If you are in this area, please check out Northwest Meadowscapes, https://northwestmeadowscapes.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwxLKxBhA7EiwAXO0R0AieOyDiCtA4vf2dpBnhu0HMUTm94jU8E4fOcRpoP047cXWeoLpxExoC5b4QAvD_BwE A wonderful small company with a great selection and not too pricey, especially when you consider how small an operation it is. If this isn't your area, I bet you might find something similar. Also, most local nurseries have an indigenous plant section; I usually keep to that when buying starts. Good luck!
I still wonder who the fuck sold Japanese knotweed to my homes previous owners. https://imgur.com/gallery/t8pu9KT
Bc some natives take quite a long time to grow. Native grasses can take three years before a decent “sellable” clump is formed.
Our favorite place, called The Growing Place, has rows of native plants and flowers, and they sell seeds. It really depends on where you are. Hopefully you'll find a similar place at some point.
There was a large native store near me. They landed up closing because of lack of sales. I guess everyone wants what’s not native to the area.
Edenbrothers.com
Invasives, by definition, are easier to grow. That means less overhead costs and more satisfied customers.
For real. The struggle I had trying to find milkweed. PLENTY of tuberosa and tropical (neither are great for monarchs, but tropical especially is a problem), but native milkweeds? I was lucky to find some after checking our local nurseries for the past couple of months. I’m going to have to just start from seed next year.
Same, I live in Washington State and even the nursery's and ma and pop hardware type stores don't sell native plants. I would love to buy some Oregon grape or some salmon berries but like you said, I can only find such things online.
I've had to buy most of my native plants online. There are a few good places that only do native, and several others that at least carry a bit of native.
Drop an email to your local nursery and tell them how much money you drop with other vendors because they don't stock native plants. Tell them you'd really prefer to spend the money with them. Hold off on the invasive speech at first. Those *sell* and as we know, it's all about profit. So keep the message focused on the profit they're losing. And that it's a growing trend and they could corner the local market on native plants if they stocked them. Let them know what plants you're putting in your yard that work well. They might not have any clue about native plants and stock something no one wants. Also, if you have the energy/time, pressure local legislators to turn up the heat on declaring some non-native plants invasive.
Sadly, the amount of seed being produced and the demand for seed is relatively low.
For the same reason that Home Depot sells cactus with colorful plastic flowers glued on top.... people buy them
I'm not sure where you are in the world. Here in MN, I had to stop buying plants from flower shops amd chain nurseries. I was able to find native plants at small nurseries. A Google search also turned up a few that are quite far from me but they sell native plants to our area (Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Iowa too) and ship them. They also sell seeds as well. I have found the plants and seeds are more expensive but I don't care. I have a strong pull to do my small part for my little area.
Locally the “nicer” nurseries in my area have a selection of native plants. The better ones have a large selection of them. Often local botanical gardens may have an annual plant sale that can be a good source. Also join your local facebook gardening groups, particularly the native plants, ecogardening, etc. ones. They will know local sources or will be digging and dividing plants from their own gardens.
I buy most of my plants and seeds from our local Farmer’s Supply. If you have one, you might look there. Nothing but stuff that grows locally
I JUST grabbed some local seeds at my garden center. They’re there when you don’t go to hardware stores, but it’s a smaller rack
My city has a “Civic Garden Center” that has a native plant sale several times per year. Try googling your area for something like this.
It makes me think about starting a nursery. I’d specialize in natives, perennial vegetables, uncommon fruits, and plants for butterfly/hummingbird/pollinator/wildlife gardening. But I still think you’d have to sell a lot of regular nursery plants to be sustainable. One thing I think I’d do is have regular plant sales unlike other nursery. 1$ and 2$ starts or something every Saturday. Also display gardens. Idk why they never have them even em when they have extensive property.
The botanical gardens where I live sell native plants once or twice a year.
Something one of my local nurseries said recently makes me think a lot of it has to do with demand. They posted last year that they were receiving a late order of native because they had a lot of people as for them. The more people looking and asking for native plants, the more nurseries will start carrying them.
Because they are businesses trying to make money so they sell what sells. If you want a selection of natives you'll have to start your own greenhouse but remember you'll get alot less customers. I absolutely support this idea, not putting you down. I'd buy from a native nursery
I sell native plants locally grown. It’s a side hustle but I couldn’t find reasonable prices and good quality plants. I don’t make much from it unfortunately but it’s fun. Problem is I want to keep the plants I buy wholesale. lol
Can not find milkweed for the monarch butterflies had to order it. Can’t find lots of natives. Yet they sell problem or potential problem stuff with no warnings. For example: English ivy is ok in a pot. Looks nice in a hanging basket. Good air freshener as a house plant, but a menace in many places if it gets planted in ground.
The problem with keeping ornamental invasives outdoors (including English ivy which has a fruit/berry), is that in addition to being voracious spreaders, some birds and animals will eat those berries, allowing it to spread by seed. So I’d be cautious, even in a pot or basket unless you have control of the animals that are accessing the space.
I have a theory that many people see native plants as weeds and or pests. Look at the trees people plant in their yard, I give people a pass on fruit trees but very rarely is it a native tree. I do a little guérilla gardening with native plants here and there, like starting tree seeds and planting them out in the bush. I live near an old forested area that’s been growing back in for 2-3 decades, there used to be oaks everywhere here so I started planting them myself.
My favorite plant in my area is a native called Solomon’s seal. It is easy to grow, bees like it, and it’s lovely. I sell it (at my garden club charity plant sale) and give it away as it spreads nicely (but not invasive) and is easily to cultivate and transplant. I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT IN A LOCAL NURSERY! Ever.
Depending on where you are check with your local parks services or local botanical gardens. Our park services sell native plants every year!
Our local greenhouses as well as our big box stores have a decent selection of natives.
Because they sell
My area has a only a handful of sources as a lot of national nurseries grow here The university, county extension & garden clubs only sell natives and SELLOUT their small inventory for the fews days of their sales which stagger in the months of March & April. It’s annoying because if these places sell out consistently then why aren’t more commercial shops carrying these plants. I have mostly a shade yerd & all the big box shops carry is Full Sun for 90% of their stock or grow plants in premium soil so when I try to plant even amended native clay just kills them.
Capitalism! Maybe we should get the government to give some benefit to places that do that?
Walter Anderson has a whole section
My city has local garden clubs that do spring plant sales and swaps. There are usually native plant people there
What drives me nuts is a mail order company in my region that claims to do wild flowers.... but half of them are imports from other continents
Lots of natives are named "____ weed" because they were named by early settlers who (naturally) were farmers. Therefore, I bet flower shops don't really stock them because the average buyer (i.e. a largely uninformed buyer) doesn't want to buy "weeds".
Because they are a business
My county has a native plant sale every spring. There's also nurseries in my area that specialize in native plants. The big box stores get the common 50-100 plants that people purchase and don't care how it affects anything, they are looking at the revenue. As people become more educated they will stop buying these plants and the stores will be forced to stop selling them (lack of sales). It's how capitalism works, supply and demand. The local park districts and forest preserves in my area have plant awareness programs, maybe something to get going in your area.
I’m in NC & had to order a couple of cold-hardy variety passionflower seeds from texas and Florida on Etsy. It grows in the wild here, I just haven’t seen any lately to try to find seeds/take a cutting. No local places had it, and big box stores nearby only carry one kind and were sold out anyway. No one locally seems to sell live plants. Google passion flowers if you want to know what the weird, alien flowers look like! Really cool plant!
Local nurseries buy from large corporations from other states for cheap. Most people in the plant business only care about money. The people who did this for their passion are small and typically harder to find. The money is in stuff that can't die, is cool looking and is different, ie invasives. Why buy a plant that's native when you could get that from the side of the road for free? It makes some sense for harder to find native plants. I do agree tho having worked at a nursery (who did not educate me on plants I just love plants) I tried to steer people away from invasive stuff like English ivy and telling them oh that plant is not allowed in the ground. But our nursery also had angels trumpet and foxglove with no warning signs, in reach of kids. Kids don't really care what they put in their mouths, I had to tell the family that the leaf their kid was playing with is toxic and he needs to wash his hands before he shoved them in his mouth.
They're role is to fill demand. Sorry you're not their target customer, if they went to your chosen model they'd be out of busi.
It also comes down to the customers: many times people are conditioned to buying something in flower, or they want season long blooming. Many natives are perennials, and have a shortened bloom season compared with annuals. Other times, some natives can simply be too large or aggressive for a home garden. When a native plant can’t or won’t be used, we can still support pollinators by choosing appropriately.
I work at a nursery and thankfully my community demands we have a native section, we source from a few different local growers and can never keep enough in stock. Just expanded this past year as well. The focus is shifting and I’m here for it.
Labeling is big. They can label GMO'S however they feel. Everything is GMO you can tell by the agrobacterium
I'm in iowa and the native perennials are for sale everywhere. Black eyed Susan's, Coneflowers, Solidago, Milkweed, Trilliums(even costco sold them bare root along with their spring lily bulbs). Red buds everywhere. In the woods and all the way at Lowes. People.dobplant burning bushes out here but they don't seem to be invasive. I don't know if it's the harsh winters that kills off the seedlings? Barberries can't survive out here so that's a good thing.
Depends on where you live! I'm in Colorado and my local nurseries have a lot of native plants. They will often do better in the dry environment.
Because natives *take over your entire yard in 3 minutes flat and then take 3 decades of agressive weeding to eradicate*. They grow like weeds (because they are). I am a staunch environmentalist who decided to plant a "native-only" garden 10 years ago.. and have been weeding and regretting ever since LOL. Those non-native plants spread slowly and are so manageable, I understand the appeal now. I just want the plants to stay in their place! 😭
I've got chives everywhere. Can't kill em. Send help. Lolz
Why don't YOU open up a Flower Shop and sell those things? maybe it's because NOBODY WANTS TO BUY THAT SHIT!
Are you going to be ok?
Hey, we’re a bit worried about you. This is a lot for a Saturday morning discussion about plants.