Plant Sourcing
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Plants that are open-pollinated or seed collected, grown within the region, and are maintained in healthy environments will increase their resiliency, shorten their establishment period, and improve survivability. |
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Identifying and developing a relationship with reputable nurseries can add time to your first sourcing project, but will substantially reduce time investments for each subsequent sourcing project. |
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It may be more expensive in the short term to source plants from more distant locations in order to achieve higher standards, but the costs should be weighed against the long-term benefit of a lower total cost to maintain the landscape over time. |
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Details of why, where from, and how a plant specimen is procured may impact the landscape’s health and function. Selecting plant materials that are ecologically appropriate and genetically diverse is vital to having a healthy landscape. Native and locally adapted plants are essential to providing self-sustaining ecosystems that will have resiliency in the face of climate change or other environmental disruptions.
Standards for plant nurseries vary from one country to another, so pay attention to where a plant comes from and how it is propagated. Proper sourcing ensures better quality, longevity and resilience of landscape plant materials.
As seeds age their viability decreases, which means that fewer seeds will germinate in subsequent years.1
In order to achieve the most efficacious plant sourcing, consider using these activities:
- Understand the site’s eco-region and local habitat, and choose plants accordingly. Source plants that have been grown in accordance with good horticultural practices, and if plants are sought in distant locations, seek those grown under similar climatic conditions to the areas environment.
- Develop lists of reputable nurseries in the area, and the types of plants they normally grow. Ask nurseries to provide a catalog of plants are typically available from one season to another.
- Select plant material from nurseries that have been inspected and certified by local jurisdictional or national inspectors, if applicable.
- Visit nurseries in person to select and tag plants, if feasible. Seeing a plant at the nursery allows you to evaluate its health, growing conditions, and means of propagation.
- Ask nurseries how the plants were propagated and prioritize open-pollination or seed-collected (sexual propagation) plants rather than those that were propagated by cuttings or tissue-culture (asexual propagation). Open-pollinated plants are hybrids of different genetic populations, which increases their resilience and adaptability.
- If desired species are not available, contract with reputable nurseries in the region to grow the plants that are needed. If this is not possible, ask a reputable local university whether they might be able to propagate the desired species. Specify the size, quality, and number of plants.
- Work with a local horticulturist to determine appropriate substitutions for plants that are not available. Substitutions need to meet or exceed the size, quality, site adaptability, and longevity of the originally specified plant.
- Source plants from various plant populations to increase the resilience of the plantings. Relying too heavily on a single source or species may reduce the genetic diversity of the landscape. Plants sourced within small geographic boundaries have less genetic diversity than the same species found regionally.
- Store, irrigate, maintain, and otherwise protect all plant material in a manner that prevents mechanical injury and stress after a plant has been transplanted and while it is being stored on site.
- Avoid stockpiling plants for more than 48 hours. Plants should only be delivered after preparations for planting are complete, and then installed immediately. If planting must be delayed for more than six hours after delivery, set plants in the shade and protect them from weather and mechanical damage. Keep all plants irrigated to prevent wilting.