low cost natives for cub scouts to plant?

[Anonymous]

I am a pack leader of a group of cub scouts who are going to plant two native tree groves at a church in Santa Clara county. One grove will be oak and one will be redwood. Can anyone recommend a source of low cost seedling trees and undercanopy native plants? Thanks. Arlene</p>

[Anonymous]

Arlene -

Often the best source of native plants is nurseries or CNPS chapters or botanic gardens that have already had their big fall sales and have material left over. In areas where a lot of logging goes on, there are lumber company nurseries, but these are not likely to grow oaks, and anyway, they would probably not be plants from genetic stock native to the south Peninsula.

There may be local groups that work with oaks - there was at least one oak group a few years ago - the Santa Clara Valley chapter of CNPS would probably know. Sometimes there are schools like community colleges that have their own nurseries, or there might be someone that has grown plants for a restoration project and has some left over.

You can contact the Santa Clara Chapter through the main CNPS website - they will be your best source of information.

Good luck,

Lori