With the fall plant sale barely passed, the folks at the Upstate Native Nursery are already thinking about the next one. And they’re betting that SCNPS members may have something more to offer. Would YOU like to help improve future sales?
First up, the Nursery is hoping to increase their diversity of native plants. In particular, they’re looking for plants that are not commonly available in commercial nurseries. If you have any of the following – especially if from native upstate South Carolina sources — they want to hear from you!
- wild-type Benthamidia florida or flowering dogwood seeds or seedlings
- Aesculus parviflora or the bottlebrush buckeye seeds or seedlings
- Aralia spinosa or Hercules club suckers, seeds or seedlings
- Camassia scilloides or wild hyacinth bulbs, seeds or seedlings
- Gaylussacia baccata or G. dumosa, huckleberries seeds or seedlings
- Halesia caroliniana and other species or silverbell seeds or seedlings
- Impatiens capensis and I. pallida or jewelweed seeds or seedlings
- Leucothoe fontanesiana or mountain doghobble seedlings or cuttings
- Nyssa sylvatica or black gum seeds or seedlings
- Oxydendron arboreum or sourwood seedlings
- Symplocos tinctoria or horse sugar seeds
To be honest, this is just a sampling from the Nursery’s full wish list. You may have ideas of your own! What would you like to see at upcoming plant sales? Have you admired a native plant that you’ve never found available for sale? Do you have an interesting plant species you’d like to share?
Of course, the Nursery depends on volunteers to help prepare thousands of plants for each sale (some folks propagate and grow plants at home, contributing them at sale time, while others work at the nursery, sowing seeds, potting and fertilizing and labeling plants, pulling weeds, and generally providing the energy that makes the UNN run).
If you can help in any of these ways — or if you’ve got ideas on how to contribute — please reach out to UNN chief Cathy McCurdy. She looks forward to hearing from you!
