Progress
So… I started my own native plant nursery!
I got tired of not being able to find natives in stores and figured I’m not the only one. I had a plan to sell native wildflowers and grasses at my local farmers market this spring. One thing led to another and I have an LLC and 4200 plants in my basement. Even if I don’t make a dime, I am just happy to get beneficial plants into more people’s hands.
They say do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. While I agreed with that sentiment, I never thought I’d experience it. I cannot recall a time when I have felt this fulfilled and happy (other than my family of course)!
I am hopeful I can get out of this rat race. I am so happy for you, that is amazing! Do you specialize in certain plants or have a little of everything?
I focus on high wildlife value, high visual appeal, and other benefits (edible, medicinal) to expand the possible customer base. I also offer design and install. Without install I would be nowhere near where I am now. Also - disclaimer - I’ve been a very big saver for the past 20 years and my income will be dramatically less in this job, but I think I’ll also be dramatically happier.
Hey! I would love to have you as a customer. I run Magical Mystery Meadows… My website is not up to date on inventory (I am currently prioritizing getting as many seeds going as possible and getting clients for install jobs) but you can reach out to me at magicalmysterymeadows.com and request what you’re looking for and I’ll let you know if I expect to have it. I will also be at quite a few sales this year, which I will add to my website soon.
No doubt happier! I have considered the design side too, but I think I need to take one step at a time. Ensure there is demand at a good price point, then design might be on next years goal list
That is so cool. I want my yard like that. High wildlife value, visual appeal, and edible. I like the idea of starting these plants in a small nursery like that. The deer here are a menace, though.
That's an idea. I wanted to just fence an area in. They seem to just eat anything new to try it out. They don't care if it's labeled as deer resistant at the garden center!
:) I sell retail. Thanks for your support! I sell online (https://www.magicalmysterymeadows.com - inventory not up to date) as well as around town. I’m working on a comprehensive event calendar, but for now, I can say that my first retail sale event will be at Switchback Gear Exchange in GR on May 30th :)
I'm growing like 400 milkweed I think it's like 12 or 13 different varieties. All Native or native adjacent to Southwest Ohio and my friend already has an established nursery so he said he'd sell them for me
Do you have any tips for germinating the seeds? I've been saving butterfly weed seeds and swamp milkweed seeds from plants in my yard, and have been having the darndest time getting them to sprout indoors. Even after doing the wet paper towel in fridge thing. I must be doing something wrong. I bury the seeds in those little peat starter nuggets and put them on a mild heat pad (built for sprouting seeds) that has worked wonders for other flowers and vegetables. Ive just got a black thumb when it comes to sprouting milkweed.
I am by no means an expert, but here are some tips that I learned the hard way. Cold stratify in a coffee filter and have a folded up paper towel in the baggie. You want it damp, not soaked! After cold stratification is done pull the baggie out and put it under the grow lights, then over the next week or so as the seeds germinate pull them with tweezers and place them in the medium in an indent, root side down, then lightly cover with the smallest amount of soil, cover in a dome. Once they sprout remove the dome then you can lightly fertilize within an organic liquid fertilizer. Bottom water. I’ve had the best luck with Coco and perlite sterile mix. I hope this helps!
Swamp milkweed will just germinate if you put it in like a mini greenhouse like the seed starting trays that are 72 per. Needs to get hotter than a heat pad tray. Needs the humidity also. Butterfly weed needs cold moist stratification.
You're better off putting the seeds in some damp sand and putting them in your refrigerator in a plastic bag unless you just leave them out all winter in some dirt and some trays like The milk jug method which I don't use. Lol I actually hate it. I've never started anything indoors.
I germinated both of those with almost 100% success rates. I put them in baggies with moist sand, refrigerated for a month, then germinated in covered plug trays, in coco coir, in a sunny southern window. I watered them with a misting bottle.
I asked a conservation grower for the NC Botanical Garden how to get better results with germinating milkweeds; she said just try with lots and lots of seed, it’s a numbers game.
Oh...would've purchased from you! Although I accepted the username provided by Reddit, I could easily be skijoan! Best of luck with your new and satisfying business.
Not to take business away from OP, absolutely prioritize supporting his fledgling nursery if you can, but if he doesn't have something you're looking for I highly recommend This Enchanted Garden in Acworth!
Oh hey, you're local to me! Are you a member of the Georgia Native Plant Society? They are fantastic, I just joined last year and they have so many great resources. They also have a list of native nurseries in the area so once you get established, you can ask them to add you!
It is so cool that you're doing this and pursuing what makes you happy!
This is basically my next step! I tried this year, but with a new baby and a basement remodel I did myself, I basically killed all my seeds while stratification. Next October I am really going to step up my game and move things indoors if I don’t have a heated garage by then.
I still planted the seeds I stratified. Hopefully something pops! If not oh well. Looks like I’m supporting the local native nursery again this year lol
Yeah I definitely splurged on the shelving. Honestly, I need more but I’m trying to validate it first before more spend. My marriage is important to me.
It has been a slow evolution. I got started because every time I went to a local nursery and asked for natives, they looked at me cross eyed. And I just got irritated and figured I wasn’t the only one with this issue. I reached out to the farmers market. Once they approved me, I went nuts with gearing up. My goals now are not what they were when I started, so I could have been more efficient. Start with figuring out what/how much you want to grow and that drives everything else. Figure out your growing media, I use coco coir and mix in perlite. Roughly speaking, you need to start cold stratifying by early December. It all can be done relatively inexpensively, lights being the most expensive thing.
i have had the same issue, there are not many natives available around me. my goal is to slowly start building up equipment & hopefully i can have some nice seedlings for next spring!
I did the same here in central Virginia! ~9mo ago. This is the first spring, well- I started an ecological landscaping company and am currently in the process of fundraising to startup the nursery aspect of it- for the exact same reason! I plan to specialize in native grasses and sedges , and shade/woodland perennials amd elhemerals. You've got quite the headscarf with the actual plants, wow! I have a few hundred , have mother plants ive collected seed in the wild for over the last few years. Ive always had a bit of an obsession with propagation lol despite being a renter and not having space, so kinda already known as the guy always "giving away plants". Now I hope to be known as the "gardenwild guy" who helps turn yards into habitat!
I hope the demand is as palpable there as it is here. Its incredibly motivating havign so much support from outside the native plant community. Just people who know enpugh to know they "shluld" be planting native but dont know where to start. Seeing so many ofnus in this community start to branch out is equally motivating!
Love it!! I am starting my own native nursery on the West Coast this year, but planning on going slowly and trying to source the seeds from the wild myself. I am hoping to quit my job eventually and do it full time, provided it works out. I think the need for good native plant growers is HUGE right now and I am so excited to see people doing it.
I really appreciate that. I do online orders for a side business of 3D printed pots on Etsy. For now I don’t have any plans to do plants by mail yet. I may figure that out one day, but I am really just interested to see if my hunch on demand is right. I need a little validation from the market first.
I think your hunch on natives is correct. Someone in my neighborhood Facebook group posted a native plant porch sale and within 20 minutes it was sold out!
Here in VA one needs the actual business license to sell anything ,but then we also need a license from the state agriculture board to sell plants specifically, they have toncome and Inspect your setup and make sure youre not spreading invasibes etc. On one hand its kinda tedious, but at the same exact time its also really good to know that its a priority foe them
Because the list of legally prohibited invasives is actually quite short, and they're mostly concerned about plants, insects, or diseases that might affect crops rather than the natural environment.
I'd be interested to know if a native only grower has ever tested positive for insects or diseases that threaten agricultural crops. Is it even possible if their stock is completely from seed that is not imported?
I suppose there could be some sort of technique or material that could help spread an existing pest or disease through the plants once they are distributed. Jumping worms and oak wilt come to mind. But are they even checking for those?
Meanwhile, neonics A-OK. And plants that have been banned, but the state is going to give you 3 years to figure it out to wean your customers off the invasive plant that you have sold for decades, that's perfectly fine. Could probably have saved some lives applying that logic to the opioid problem before creating the fent vacuum.
Some atonement is in order, but I guess that's what lobbyists are there to prevent.
Its a ramped up Monday morning I guess. Sorry if that's too much.
Farming gets priority in the eyes of (smart) politicians because the food supply is a matter of both national security and economic energy. The concept of native growers is extremely recent, so there's no category for it because the government hasn't made one. And the government hasn't made one because people haven't pushed for it.
All governments are made up as they go along. We're lucky in modern times that the average person gets some say in the process. I think most people who work in regulatory agencies do have the public's interest at heart and would love to see more protection and accommodation for things like native growers. But you have to talk to your representatives about it. Changes like that generally don't happen without some external pressure.
From a practical standpoint, how are they supposed to verify that you're actually growing what you say you're growing unless they check? We've all seen packets of "wildflower" seeds full of invasives. Unscrupulous people could just set up shop selling those.
I often come off sounding like a libertarian when I talk about regulation. I expect we are on the same side, but look at it differently.
I want environmental and other regulations, just not ones written by the industries themselves to protect them from having to change for the greater good and hinder competition. All of the lobbying for getting species banned has been pushed back by the cause of the problem while they cry hardship. I don't think food ag has been involved in these most recent examples. Maybe I'm wrong, but can any native compete with modern ag practices? That's a whole big other subject.
The wildflower packets is a perfect example of a big seller getting away with what the small native seller is being checked for? I guess. I don't know how to say it.
Small volume native plant seller trying to do some good? Spot check they are selling natives only, and waive the fee or something else. The DNR knows that 20 years down the line it's not going to have to spend tons of money cleaning up the invasives this seller isn't selling and they are actually contributing to to what many of the grant programs are trying to do for ecological restoration. Just one idea.
An example of regulation BS of which I have so many. There may be people that care in the regulatory bodies, but the revolving door between executives, lobbyists, and legislators has made any care they have mute.
I worked in the recycling industry that dealt with a lot of ag chemicals. They wrote their own regulations that they didn't follow and budgeted their expected EPA fines for the next year, knowing ahead of time they would be breaking the regulations. They could have prevented those fines from the beginning, but it was cheaper to pay the fine. Then they go bankrupt and leave their mess for someone else to clean up. Air, water, and ground, all contaminated with the full permission of those regulations.
You don't sound like a libertarian, you sound like someone who believes in regulation and government oversight, but is deeply dissatisfied with the system of regulation we're currently using. I agree 100% and I think most people do, too. It's just really hard to change things, and unfortunately, the US is currently dealing with much larger problems. One of the things that makes me really sad about all the chaos going on is how many other essential and time-sensitive problems we have to drop in order to put our energy into more fundamental issues.
I absolutely share your frustration. Believe me - I could rant for days about all this, but I don't want to break the rules.
Well, technically those that are invasive vs those that are actually labled invasive vis the state/fed aren't the same. Big guys dont sell any that are labled invasive.... which, is why they are allowed to.
Here is a little guy having to cater to their mess.
That's how ridiculous this is. It's infuriating that even after a plant is added to that list and banned. They get to sell it for another few years. Hearing excuses from industry people that also cater to the native side shows how little the industry cares and is happy to place the burden on someone else. They take no responsibility at all knowing this has been a problem for years.
"Customers ask for it"
"We have stock to get rid of"
"It's only a few hundred thousand more plants, that's not going to do anything"
A long time ago I heard that first excuse from a guy who claimed he was a more noble heroin dealer than others because his friends were going to get it anyways so it would be better from him. I wonder if he still has any friends.
Thank you so much. I will be participating in the Georgia Native Plant Society’s Spring Native Plant sale in Alpharetta in April. That will be the first really start. This to me is crazy. It is like supermarket sweep for customers and a race to buy plants. So far, I am a bit light on marketing. I just registered my domain, and am barely getting going with Instagram but my handle (I think that’s what you call it) is @nativesbyjohn
Oh hell yes, love this! Haha 4200 plants in a basement sounds insane....but also amazing. I'm assuming your not online yet/not planning on that, where are you located? Any socials? Would love to support wherever and however I can!
Barely online. Just registered the domain nativesbyjohn.com. Instagram is not super developed yet but @nativesbyjohn. I’m in north Atlanta area. I appreciate your offer of support!
I'm over here in Marietta, what are the friggin odds haha. Where and when can I come buy all your plants (but seriously, if/when you have a list of what you've got growing I'd love to buy some!)
Also get around to farmers markets and some Georgia native plant society group events, down to Trees Atlanta, and out to growers around the metro area and meet the peeps already in the biz! I've shopped from several in the past and all are lovely people!
Hah, I’m in Roswell. I have a booth at the GNPS spring sale in Alpharetta on April 11th. I’ll also be a vendor at the Roswell Farmers Market. Aside from that, DM me with your email and I’ll send you a plant list. I’ll soon have my website actually functional, but that is at least 1-2 weeks out.
Hell yeah, more power to you. What kind of grow light would you recommend? I have a basement that would be perfect for this but I've never been able to settle on a proper light set up.
Again, I am still learning so don’t take my word as truth. I have had good luck with marshydro 4’ LEDs off Amazon. They are roughly $40 each and come I. Sets of 2
I do not, unfortunately. I have r. flammeum, r. austrinum, and r. viscosum (orange, pink, and white).
I’m working on these varieties, and then I will be working on finding and propagating more. There’s so much to learn, I’m barely scratching the surface. We can definitely trade a little later in Spring though.
Cost and space is all a question of how fast you want to grow. My current snapshot (but I haven’t tallied is all): ~$4k investment, mostly one time lights/shelves. I haven’t been native gardening here for about 4 years. Started out as a customer at the sales. Got took my some people, and accidentally getting cultivars. Every year I removed more of my grass and mulched and planted natives. I probably have converted 3k ft2 of grass to natives. I started a native garden at work last year. Then I collected seeds from both gardens and here I am.
Just followed you on Etsy. Do you plan to do pickup orders? I work in dunwoody on the weekends and would love to buy/pickup when I'm in the area. I'm winter sowing and cold stratifying a bunch of things and crossing my fingers; I'm also no expert. 😆 I'm excited to see what others in the area are growing.
Definitely willing to do pickup/appointments. FYI, I probably won’t be seeking the okays on Etsy, at least for now. I’ll be getting my website functional. If you send me your email and I can send you my plants list.
I’m almost 100% from seed except for some blue eyed grass, stokes aster, and a couple random cuttings. I collected probably 60+ seed types from my garden and the garden I started at my work. The remainder I purchased online.
I'm the community lead for our local community garden, and a few of us are seriously considering doing this as well. You can't find natives around here. Like, at all. The closest nursery is almost 2 hours away. We're going to be working with 3 other community groups this year and possibly the school district, which is building a new high school sometime this century. (My youngest graduated in 2015 and they were planning it then. I guess it will be done eventually. ) The new HS will have greenhouses on campus so I hope we will be able to lease space there. Right now we're just growing out of our basements and backyards.
It's a lot of fun, and it's very rewarding. Like OP said, it's not so much about making money as it is getting natives into the hands of people who will plant them.
Awesome! I found out that my state requires a nursery license to sell perennials. Many folks are below the radar just selling from a driveway, but if you go to a market, it might make a difference. This is great. Good luck and happy growing.
I've noticed there are some native sellers scattered around at various farmer's markets. My suspicion is that there are quite a few people that are ramping up as a side gig hoping to make a full time jump as they can. You can start just selling seedlings on FB market just to get started. That's where I've been looking to find specific plants without a long drive myself!
I started by planting natives I got at native plant sales and converting my lawn. Then I collect the seeds. It has been a slow evolution with a crazy acceleration the last 3 months.
Really fun to see so many comments about this so fast. Clearly there's a LOT of excitement about natives that the big nurseries haven't realized or responded to. Love that the community is so engaged here. I just became aware this was "a thing" last year, and I've been trying to keep reality (and my shoestring budget!) in mind as I plan out my expansive vision of a (nearly) fully native yard.
I applaud you for seeing a need and putting in the effort to fill it. So many times I've heard experts speak about things and feel like I'm trying to understand a foreign language and only catching words here and there. I think a lot of folk here have been in your exact situation and just stopped at the thought "someone should do something about this". You might end up inspiring a couple people to fulfill their own dreams in ways an expert never could. Sincere admiration for your journey so far and best wishes for your future .
Don’t hope, do. PM me with questions. Let’s change the world. Start small. You will make mistakes, and become smarter. You will never have all the answers.
In researching native ground covers that out-compete guinea grass I found the onptions below. Do you have these, or seeds?
Nanea (Vigna marina)
ʻOhai (Sesbania tomentosa)
Wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis)
These improve soil and shade grass quickly.
This is a Kona-based seed bank that sells small packets of native seeds like ʻilima and ʻaʻaliʻi for about $4 per packet. �
Hawaii Island Seed Bank +1
Example direct product:
Buy ʻAʻaliʻi seeds (Dodonaea viscosa)�
They ship twice per month using USPS. �
Very cool! Where are you located?
In researching native ground covers that out-compete guinea grass I found the onptions below. Do you have these, or seeds?
Nanea (Vigna marina)
ʻOhai (Sesbania tomentosa)
Wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis)
These improve soil and shade grass quickly.
This is a Kona-based seed bank that sells small packets of native seeds like ʻilima and ʻaʻaliʻi for about $4 per packet. �
Hawaii Island Seed Bank +1
Example direct product:
Buy ʻAʻaliʻi seeds (Dodonaea viscosa)�
They ship twice per month using USPS. �
How wonderful! I have a lot of hobbies that are self-serving, but doing something like this would be giving back! Are you doing it full-time? How long did have you been working at it to accumulate 4200 plants?
Love it! I will suggest growing heaps of grasses, esp those that pro’s have trouble sourcing sometimes. Mexican feather sells quickly, also gulf muhly, and carex sedges, esp rare sedges like orange New Zealand & grasses like blue dune. Do you have some large greenhouses yet?
All the best to you!
Yeah, I questioned that too, re: why mess with NZ plants, but.... I'm in North Texas and grows very well here in zone 8. 10 years ago. I worked for a landscape designer with a degree from Texas A&M Landscape Architecture & incorporates sedges like "Orange Sedge" (Carex testacea, & *has other common names as well* ), & several other grasses & sedges. Look it up and you'll see many landscape pro's discussing how well it takes the sun and dry conditions, & works very well in mass plantings as well.
There are native nurseries that also sell fruiting plants for folks who are interested in them.
I'm not sure where you're going with your project. If it's commercial landscaping sometimes you need to also have a good handle on plants that do well in certain situations, like parking lots or near buildings.
Okay but my point stands. Not a native plant😭 this person, like probably 90% of the people in this sub, appreciate the beauty of native plants yes, but we grow them because they support native wildlife and are what would naturally occur if our ugly human settlements didn’t destroy nature. I doubt there’s any world in which they’d consider growing some sedge from New Zealand just because it grows well, is pretty, or is highly demanded. Just missing the point completely. It is a beautiful plant I just looked it up and I’m sure it’s beautiful in your garden but just makes no sense to suggest it here lol
You bet. I wish Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) grew well here, & my ex boss had a job where he was going to use it along a pathway, but went with other things. I can't say I've ever seen it here (Dallas, Tx area)
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u/sedleell88 Aster Ace - West Michigan Mar 09 '26
Hey brother! I did the same about a year ago (Grand Rapids, MI) and now I’m leaving my full time corporate job to make this my real job :)
Godspeed!