Locally Grown Landscape and Garden Plants
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 02.24.07
File this under "Green Cliches." One of last night's cable TV features included a charming woman touring a farm stand while outlining the positives of buying local produce. Clearly, local food has "arrived" as a subject for the mainstream media. (How odd it must seem to someone visiting from a developing nation, to see adult Americans spend their tube time learning how to buy groceries.) What's the next trend in supply chain shortening, then? Locally grown garden and landscape plants, perhaps. Ideally, decorative plants would be locally evolved, locally grown, and locally distributed (the latter being especially important for heavy potted varieties). We found a Pennsylvania USA vendor of East Coast varieties: Yellow Springs Farm. Check out the on-line catalog first, where some nice plant specimen photos are shown. The general advantages of locally evolved, grown, & distributed (LEG'D) plants are outlined below the fold.
Here's the vendor's motto: "Our mission at Yellow Springs Farm is to promote land stewardship through the propagation and sale of North American native plants. We specialize in natives of the East Coast."
Wherever you live, however, locally evolved and grown/distributed plants are superior because:
They're tolerant of your soil types and your weather. They'll handle whatever nature throws at them, assuming you plant as instructed.
They won't bring in any new and nasty exotic insects and diseases.
LEG'D plants have a lower carbon footprint, not requiring shipping from distant winter greenhouses, and re-shipping from local distributors.
They should need less pampering. Less water consumption and lower fertilizer use would be expected. Won't have to bring them in during winter either.
When buying LEG'D plants you are supporting local farmers who are, because of your dollars, more likely able to keep the land green instead of turning it over to developers.
If you have a problem with deer eating your plants, for example, who better to ask: a franchise employee with no knowledge of local ecosystems or someone who raises their plants out on the land?
That reminds me: here's the Yellow Springs Farm front door.
Please let us know about any good LEG'D suppliers near you!
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"Landscape Alternatives, Inc. is the largest producer of containerized native flowers and grasses in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota. Our company has the experience, knowledge and ability to produce hundreds of unique and challenging perennial species. Our plants are used in residential and commercial landscapes, native restorations, parks, roadsides and other naturalized areas."
I got all the plants for my rain garden there last year - they were great!
http://www.landscapealternatives.com/employment/
the prairie conservation area in my small town recently placed an advertisement in the paper offering native plants and grasses for sale, and listing the benefits, which included rebuilding the local wildlife habitat, which i thought was great, if i wasnt renting id tear up and replant the entire lawn, front with local plants and grasses, back with local produce. as is, im still trying to convince my landlord that we need an apple tree, becos really, doesnt everyone?
If anyone knows of a native plant and native food plant nursery near Chicago/Hammond. Please drop me a note
i think its an amazing feat that we are trying to learn the proper way to take care of nature, no matter how late it is. at least going green, and planting more trees and plants would not only make the future brighter, it would lessen the environmental problems that we have.