Cultivating Our Future:
How to start a native plant restoration nursery
Workshop length: 1 day: Jan 11, 2012
List of presenters: Betty Young, Brianna Schaefer, and Michele Laskowski
Note: All presenters are from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Native Plant Nursery Program.
- Betty Young, Director of Nurseries and Park Academy in GGNRA has managed nurseries for over 25 years, grown natives from throughout northern California, designed nurseries, directs 6 nurseries, the parks’ continuing learning institute and with our team has produced a manual covering the Science and Art of Growing for Restoration.
- Brianna Schaefer is the Production Manager at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery. Her work includes the propagation of over 150 different native species a year including annuals, perennials and bulbs from seed as well as ferns from spore.
- Michele Laskowski is the seed ecologist and nursery research coordinator at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery. Her work includes collecting, processing and storing propagules from more than two hundred native plants. Her research efforts have focused on seed germination, sustainable germination media, and organic fertilizers.
Workshop goal and target audience
This workshop will provide the “how-tos”, resources, and essentials necessary to start up a successful native plant restoration nursery. A broad audience will gain new knowledge for setting up this type of operation including restoration and conservation professionals from public, private, and non-profit sectors, decision makers, consultants, CNPS chapter plant sale chairs, young professionals, and students.
Workshop content
Many restoration programs, park managers, and partner organizations of land management agencies struggle to find a reliable supply of locally appropriate, healthy, weed and pathogen free, native plants to use for habitat restoration projects. This workshop is for anyone who has ever asked “What would it really take to start a restoration nursery and successfully produce quality ecologically appropriate native plants?” We will draw from more than 40 years of combined professional education and expertise, research endeavors, personal perspectives and lessons learned to highlight all key areas of starting and successfully operating a native plant nursery. We will take participants through a detailed discussion of how to plan and design a native plant nursery. We will then cover the “nuts and bolts” of seed collection and growing – covering a wide range of topics from ecological to logistical. Participants will receive hands on experience with nursery layout design, seed cleaning, mixing organic potting media, organic fertilizers, and more. This workshop would not be complete without a fun slideshow of common nursery pests coupled with proven integrated pest management strategies. Throughout the workshop, participants can expect an over-arching focus on sustainable approaches to growing natives. Participants will also be provided applicable chapters of the forthcoming nursery manual “Science and Art of Growing for Restoration”. Additionally, other valuable resources and tools will be distributed such as sample collection and growing calendars, list of product suppliers, compost based potting media recipe, procedure sheets for seed and berry cleaning, and a list of standard pot sizes for the 400 species we grow.
Outline of major topics
- How to plan for and design a nursery to grow native plants for restoration
- Ecological considerations of propagule collection
- Timing crops and estimating how much seed to sow and how many to pot up to deliver what was ordered
- Organic potting media and fertilizers
- Examples of sustainable practices
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
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Dedicated to the Preservation of California Native Flora