Wild Plant Nursery Archive
This page describes our DC-area nursery effort from 2007 through 2009. For prior years, the best source is the 2005-07 Wild Plant Nursery slide show.
Review of 2009 Activities
Pictures of the activities described below are available in the 2009 Wild Plant Nursery slide show.
We constructed a set of eight 7-foot by 70-foot growing troughs in the 6,800-square-foot northeastern section of the nursery, installed a watering system, and brought that entire area into production.
With the help of the Fairfax County Park Authority, we extended our container yard into the area that has since become the nursery’s southeastern section. (This area covers about 8,500 square feet.) The Park Authority not only granted us use of the space, but brought out heavy equipment to level the area, then helped us install our shade structure, and donated $10,000 worth of construction supplies to the project. Without the Park Authority’s help, it probably would have taken us most of the year just to get the shade up!
Working in that new space, our Nursery Manager, Philip Latasa, nearly completed the series of concrete-block growing troughs that will eventually cover the area. Philip was assisted—at least intermittently—by a varied band of energetic volunteers and nursery interns.
We started renovating the oldest section of the nursery. (This area covers about 5,500 square feet.) Unlike the new area, this section is in production, so renovation is tricky. We made a start near the end of last year, by consolidating the nursery stock in this part of the nursery, and removing what was left of the old ground structures.
One other important structural addition: the Park Authority produced and installed a beautiful display sign for the nursery. (There’s a picture of it in the 2009 Wild Plant Nursery slide show.)
Our inventory continued to expand. Examples of species new in 2009, or those for which our inventory improved significantly: chinkapin (Castanea pumila), American chestnut (Castanea dentata), butternut (Juglans cinerea), fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus), blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), several species of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), and a native thistle (Cirsium discolor).
2008 Activities
During 2008, we configured nearly all of the space under the 6,800-square foot shade structure installed at the end of 2007, as an expansion of our container yard. (This structure, now the northeastern section of the nursery, more than doubled our container-yard space.)
We built a series of concrete-block "growing troughs" in the new space. Each trough measures 70 feet by 7 feet and each is lined with pond liner, fitted with drainage valves and dressed with about an inch of sand. The resulting layout is a huge improvement over the layout of the older section of our container yard. The troughs allow us to: manage water much more efficiently, reduce watering labor, grow healthier plants, and improve protection of stock that is vulnerable to rodents. We built seven of these troughs in 2008 and one more in early 2009. The space is now fully built out and in production. To see pictures of us working on this project, view the 2008 Wild Plant Nursery slide show.
The US National Arboretum began donating its used plant containers to us. The USNA pots are of very high quality. We still have to buy some types of pots ourselves, but these contributions will save us money and make our operation “greener,” by reducing our demand for virgin plastic, which is made from oil.
Philip Latasa, our Nursery Manager, built a meditation platform in the container yard, at one end of the trough array. Philip made the platform from used lumber. It is a wonderful addition, available for sitting, meetings, and picnics.
During 2008, we distributed about 5,000 native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants to local parks, nature centers, and schools. The bulk of this material was used to restore degraded stream banks and flood plains, and to revegetate areas cleared of invasive alien vegetation.
Our container capacity expanded during 2008, from about 10,000 1-gallon pots to about 18,000. (Our raised bed space held steady at about 2,000 square feet.)
Our propagation effort also increased substantially. We added 20 more species to our collection activities in 2008, bringing the total number of species in propagation to 177. (It is true that many of these species are poorly represented in our system—propagation failures are common when working with wild-collected seed from a wide range of species—but on the whole, our results continue to improve.) Some of our 2008 additions are rare in the wild in our region—for example, Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) and purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens). Other recent additions are slow-growing, or difficult to grow, and therefore not usually available to restoration efforts—for example, pinxterbloom azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides) and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).
We also increased the number of sites from which we collect seed for propagation. Some of new seed-collecting venues are important natural areas—Huntley Meadows, for example, and Roaches Run Water Fowl Sanctuary. By the end of 2008, we were collecting from about 50 sites in northern Virginia, up from about 30 in 2007. (Of course, we collect only with permission.)
In 2008, we were invited by Huntley Meadows Park to be the propagator of first resort for a major wetlands restoration project. (Huntley Meadows includes a marsh of over 70 acres, one of the largest non-tidal wetlands remaining in the Washington, DC region.) We began collecting seed in the fall of 2008.
Also in 2008, the City of Alexandria asked us to propagate certain wetland species for planting in the city’s natural areas.
And in September 2008, our first-ever Nursery Open House attracted a host of local “plant geeks.” Lisa gave two well-attended tours.
2007 Activities
During 2007, we distributed over 3,000 plants for major plantings on seven school grounds, one large invasives control area that we manage directly, 13 Fairfax County Park Authority Invasives Management Area sites, 10 stream-buffer sites, and one parkland revegetation project.
We added 15 more species to our propagation effort, and began scaling up production of several common and formerly abundant herb species, to help drive a major reestablishment of them.
We installed an eight-foot, commercial-quality shade structure over the oldest section of our nursery; this section covers about 5,500 square feet.
Local high-school student Andrew Frank designed and built 1,050 square feet of additional raised bed space for the propagation of dryland herbs, a neglected and declining flora in our region. The raised beds created by Andrew and his team were Andrew’s Eagle Scout project; he did a superb job on them and significantly extended our propagation capacity. (You can see Andrew’s work in the 2005-07 Wild Plant Nursery slide show.)
Another local high-school student, Dylan Drake, assembled a new, 6,800-square-foot shade structure as his Eagle Scout project. (This is the northeastern section of the nursery.) Dylan and his crew more than doubled our container-yard space from its pre-2007 extent. (Dylan’s work is also shown in the 2005-07 Wild Plant Nursery slide show.)
We installed a large shed and a greenhouse mist system.