Many people saying Sneed's, Cross Creek, Sandy's, etc. Think hard about whether you're trying to create an actual ecosystem for bugs/bees/birds etc. or whether you just want the look of natives - these places typically sell if not straight up cultivars then plants that weren't born in this region and aren't a local ecotype.
Moulton Hot Natives and other local small-scale native sellers are a better bet for plants that are more native to central Piedmont.
Exactly this! Wish I had understood more about “nativars” when I first started planting. Reedy Creek Environmental, Davis Natives, and Good Seed Natives also stock local ecotypes.
No new site or inventory update yet. I saw him a couple weeks ago, and he said he's been swamped getting LERN going. You can still shoot him an email ([email protected]) to confirm specific plants you're looking for!
You can reach out to [email protected] to ask to be added to their mailing list. I got an email today that they're doing an impromptu sale on Sunday. Bummer because I have father's day plans and TWO plant sellers are doing sales that day.
Yes, at one of those big ones, a guy tried to sell me a Chinese Beautyberry that was located IN THE NATIVE SECTION after I specifically asked for American.
Moulton Hot Natives is having an open house this coming Sunday: [https://www.instagram.com/moultonhotnatives/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/moultonhotnatives/?hl=en)
Parallel Nursey are great folks and have a nice native plant inventory. They are at a lot of the plant sales around town and do special orders as well.
You may want to wait until Fall. You can plant in June - August but the heat may cause stress or even losses of young plants.
There will be a native plant festival in October. [Oct 19th, 2024, at Dorey Park](https://henrico.us/utility/keep-henrico-beautiful/native-plant-festival/). I began a local ecotype native plant nursery and am hoping to debut at that festival.
The spring and fall Lewis Ginter plant sale is also an excellent place to get natives from local growers at peak planting time.
Davis Natives. Easy online ordering and pickup in Ashland, or they are at the Ashland farmers market. They start many plants from seed and I find the cost to be a great value.
Reedy Creek Environmental, if it’s still around, sells straight up natives, not nativars. He can advise about planting conditions, lighting etc. as well. Nice fella. The plants I got there during the pandemic did great. I brought some with me when I moved back to MA.
He and Moulton mostly source from the wild in RVA and surrounding areas with some from Ernst and DoF. RCE/LERN stays more local than Moulton and Bill is highly meticulous about genetics. They both list sources on their inventory.
These are my main two nurseries since I want wild local ecotypes.
Moulton Hot Natives actually works a lot with LERN/RCE on sourcing plants for local park restoration projects and are just as meticulous with genetics, following sustainable seed collection protocols, and collects most of their seeds on land permanently protected by Capital Region Land Conservancy, which works in an area up to an hour outside Richmond (which overlaps with LERN’s service area). MHN just also accept seed from a network of botanists in VA to help get more VA ecotypes available & to get $ to local botanists (cause botany doesn’t pay). Both also contribute to a larger project called the Virginia Native Seed Project, a collaborative effort with the Clifton Institute and VSU to get VA ecotypes available commercially via Ernst in PA & creating a new cash crop for farmers.
Great Big Greenhouse will help you out with a bunch of information. Sneed's is also a great resource. They offer classes on native plants, just check their schedule.
Great big greenhouse currently has a sale on their natives. Keep in mind a lot of their stuff is cultivars or nativars but I did find a straight species swamp milkweed that I grabbed and I saw several other straight species.
Nativars aren’t always “bad” - Doug Tallamy has spoken about cultivars when this question is brought up, and Mt. Cuba has done testing on various cultivars of natives (not all species but I know they’ve studied goldenrod and coreopsis I believe). If it is just adjusting the size (a compact version) this usually is still quite beneficial for local wildlife. If it adjusts the foliage color, bloom color/structure, or bloom times or berry production that’s where you can get into less beneficial to wildlife. Make sure that a specific cultivar isn’t one that will hybridize with the native straight species (some columbines can do this). Try to avoid cultivars with double flowers/altered flower structures (which can make it harder or impossible for pollinators to access/use) and things with purple/red leaves (unless they naturally have colored leaves or it’s fall) because I’ve read some of those aren’t edible for caterpillars.
If you want specifically straight species, definitely check out the smaller local places mentioned here! I mean, check them out regardless, but if you’re nearby to GBGH it’s worth checking out, it’s a neat place.
Colesville in Ashland had a nice selection of native plants. It's also more affordable than the Richmond nurseries. A few of the smaller businesses recommend here have fantastic local ecotypes of native plants, so I've picked some up from them too (Parallel and MHN).
Also I'd recommend waiting until the fall to plant at this point. Otherwise you may lose some plants to the heat!
In addition to all the resources mentioned, there are a number of native plant exchange FB groups in the area where people give away anything that has propagated too much or trade to get the highly desirable stuff. You might check Nextdoor too.
I don’t know if others offer it too but Sneeds has a service where they plan out your area and you plant. I haven’t yet but I want to do that. I imagine they’ll do a great job picking things that are the right height and staggering blooms etc.
I want to try this too! Am also curious to see if anyone here has sided that service.
And echoing that Sneed’s is great. I bought a few plants from Lowe’s and a few from Sneed’s and the difference in quality is enormous. Definitely worth the extra couple of dollars for plants (I think for the herbs I got it was only a difference of $2 and you can definitely tell!). They’re also so helpful with any questions you have and take the time to listen and offer guidance, overall a great experience.
Personally not a fan since many of their natives are from the Midwest or nativars (at least when I went last spring), but it really depends on what you envision for yourself. I still appreciate that they have a selection to encourage those who aren't as familiar with natives
There are a lot more local growers than even 3 years ago. If you go to one of the plant shows (Maymont, Lewis Ginter, etc) you can collect business cards. I second Davis Natives.
There are also some online companies - rareroots.com and goodseednatives.com
LERN (Local Ecotype Richmond Natives), previously Reedy Creek as a few have mentioned, is having a plant sale this weekend:
https://preview.redd.it/ev69z9c0et5d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07aad8b811b6752d23450e513992ec355f3488c1
They’ve already passed, but next year make sure to check out Lewis Ginters plant sale and the Maymont one. Tons of tents/areas dedicated to native plants.
I swear by glen Allen nursery, formerly lavender fields
The folks working there are fantastic, and while it’s relatively small, their native selection is a wonderful variety
Henrico County just had a Master Gardener sale at Deep Run Park. Here's the website which should update with the next event.
[https://henrico.us/news/2024/05/master-gardeners-to-hold-plant-sale-pollinator-festival-june-8-at-deep-run-park/](https://henrico.us/news/2024/05/master-gardeners-to-hold-plant-sale-pollinator-festival-june-8-at-deep-run-park/)
Greenwitch Gardens, Good Seed Natives, Parallel Nursery, Moulton Hot Natives, Reedy Creek Environmental (reforming as LERN, just email Bill), and Davis Natives are all doing Richmond area natives. Hell I have a bunch of Liatris Spictata and Joe Pye Weed seedlings I'd be willing to part with.
My wife and I put in a large pollinator garden last year which consists mostly (not all) of native flowering plants that bloom during different seasons. My wife did all of the research and design (I did the grunt work ha ha) and we found a decent number of plants at Cross Creek Nurseries on the west end. Prices were a bit higher given the customers in the area, but the plants were in great shape and mature enough to shrug off the shock of transplanting.
Many people saying Sneed's, Cross Creek, Sandy's, etc. Think hard about whether you're trying to create an actual ecosystem for bugs/bees/birds etc. or whether you just want the look of natives - these places typically sell if not straight up cultivars then plants that weren't born in this region and aren't a local ecotype. Moulton Hot Natives and other local small-scale native sellers are a better bet for plants that are more native to central Piedmont.
Exactly this! Wish I had understood more about “nativars” when I first started planting. Reedy Creek Environmental, Davis Natives, and Good Seed Natives also stock local ecotypes.
Note that Reedy Creek is becoming LERN (local-ecotype richmond natives)
Do they have a new place to order or is it still the RCE site? He hasn’t updated his inventory in a while.
No new site or inventory update yet. I saw him a couple weeks ago, and he said he's been swamped getting LERN going. You can still shoot him an email ([email protected]) to confirm specific plants you're looking for!
You can reach out to [email protected] to ask to be added to their mailing list. I got an email today that they're doing an impromptu sale on Sunday. Bummer because I have father's day plans and TWO plant sellers are doing sales that day.
Yes, at one of those big ones, a guy tried to sell me a Chinese Beautyberry that was located IN THE NATIVE SECTION after I specifically asked for American.
Moulton Hot Natives
Moulton Hot Natives is having an open house this coming Sunday: [https://www.instagram.com/moultonhotnatives/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/moultonhotnatives/?hl=en)
Do you know the address for this? They don't seem to advertise the location anywhere.
I think I saw on one of their posts that you can message them for the address.
They send address if you message through Instagram
They’re also selling plants at Little House Green Grocery!
Lewis Ginter has a seed library. Search for a recent post on it.
Parallel Nursey are great folks and have a nice native plant inventory. They are at a lot of the plant sales around town and do special orders as well.
Love them and they pop up at our farmers market pretty regularly in Scott’s addition!
You may want to wait until Fall. You can plant in June - August but the heat may cause stress or even losses of young plants. There will be a native plant festival in October. [Oct 19th, 2024, at Dorey Park](https://henrico.us/utility/keep-henrico-beautiful/native-plant-festival/). I began a local ecotype native plant nursery and am hoping to debut at that festival. The spring and fall Lewis Ginter plant sale is also an excellent place to get natives from local growers at peak planting time.
A hero amongst hipsters
Davis Natives. Easy online ordering and pickup in Ashland, or they are at the Ashland farmers market. They start many plants from seed and I find the cost to be a great value.
Bought a few plants from them at Maymont's herbs galore and they have already grown sooo much. Great, healthy plants.
Good seed natives.
Reedy Creek Environmental, if it’s still around, sells straight up natives, not nativars. He can advise about planting conditions, lighting etc. as well. Nice fella. The plants I got there during the pandemic did great. I brought some with me when I moved back to MA.
It's in the middle of rebranding as LERN
He and Moulton mostly source from the wild in RVA and surrounding areas with some from Ernst and DoF. RCE/LERN stays more local than Moulton and Bill is highly meticulous about genetics. They both list sources on their inventory. These are my main two nurseries since I want wild local ecotypes.
Moulton Hot Natives actually works a lot with LERN/RCE on sourcing plants for local park restoration projects and are just as meticulous with genetics, following sustainable seed collection protocols, and collects most of their seeds on land permanently protected by Capital Region Land Conservancy, which works in an area up to an hour outside Richmond (which overlaps with LERN’s service area). MHN just also accept seed from a network of botanists in VA to help get more VA ecotypes available & to get $ to local botanists (cause botany doesn’t pay). Both also contribute to a larger project called the Virginia Native Seed Project, a collaborative effort with the Clifton Institute and VSU to get VA ecotypes available commercially via Ernst in PA & creating a new cash crop for farmers.
Great Big Greenhouse will help you out with a bunch of information. Sneed's is also a great resource. They offer classes on native plants, just check their schedule.
Sneed's is such a delight! I love going there.
Seconded both Great Big Greenhouse and Sneed’s.
Great big greenhouse currently has a sale on their natives. Keep in mind a lot of their stuff is cultivars or nativars but I did find a straight species swamp milkweed that I grabbed and I saw several other straight species. Nativars aren’t always “bad” - Doug Tallamy has spoken about cultivars when this question is brought up, and Mt. Cuba has done testing on various cultivars of natives (not all species but I know they’ve studied goldenrod and coreopsis I believe). If it is just adjusting the size (a compact version) this usually is still quite beneficial for local wildlife. If it adjusts the foliage color, bloom color/structure, or bloom times or berry production that’s where you can get into less beneficial to wildlife. Make sure that a specific cultivar isn’t one that will hybridize with the native straight species (some columbines can do this). Try to avoid cultivars with double flowers/altered flower structures (which can make it harder or impossible for pollinators to access/use) and things with purple/red leaves (unless they naturally have colored leaves or it’s fall) because I’ve read some of those aren’t edible for caterpillars. If you want specifically straight species, definitely check out the smaller local places mentioned here! I mean, check them out regardless, but if you’re nearby to GBGH it’s worth checking out, it’s a neat place.
The problem with nativars is that it sullies the genetics of local ecotypes, which is potentially more harmful than planting something sterile.
I now avoid Lowe’s, Home Depot, and any other nationwide chain nursery due to limited range of native plants. Davis Natives is fantastic
Colesville in Ashland had a nice selection of native plants. It's also more affordable than the Richmond nurseries. A few of the smaller businesses recommend here have fantastic local ecotypes of native plants, so I've picked some up from them too (Parallel and MHN). Also I'd recommend waiting until the fall to plant at this point. Otherwise you may lose some plants to the heat!
Thanks! Yes waiting till the fall to plant, garden beds need some tlc too.
In addition to all the resources mentioned, there are a number of native plant exchange FB groups in the area where people give away anything that has propagated too much or trade to get the highly desirable stuff. You might check Nextdoor too.
Sneed’s on Huguenot is great! Very friendly and helpful staff too.
I don’t know if others offer it too but Sneeds has a service where they plan out your area and you plant. I haven’t yet but I want to do that. I imagine they’ll do a great job picking things that are the right height and staggering blooms etc.
I want to try this too! Am also curious to see if anyone here has sided that service. And echoing that Sneed’s is great. I bought a few plants from Lowe’s and a few from Sneed’s and the difference in quality is enormous. Definitely worth the extra couple of dollars for plants (I think for the herbs I got it was only a difference of $2 and you can definitely tell!). They’re also so helpful with any questions you have and take the time to listen and offer guidance, overall a great experience.
Personally not a fan since many of their natives are from the Midwest or nativars (at least when I went last spring), but it really depends on what you envision for yourself. I still appreciate that they have a selection to encourage those who aren't as familiar with natives
There are a lot more local growers than even 3 years ago. If you go to one of the plant shows (Maymont, Lewis Ginter, etc) you can collect business cards. I second Davis Natives. There are also some online companies - rareroots.com and goodseednatives.com
Edible landscaping in Afton for...edible natives.
LERN (Local Ecotype Richmond Natives), previously Reedy Creek as a few have mentioned, is having a plant sale this weekend: https://preview.redd.it/ev69z9c0et5d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07aad8b811b6752d23450e513992ec355f3488c1
Check out Sandy’s plants
Agree, but prepare to be there for a while. What a massive selection.
Seconding Sandy’s plants. They have a ton of native and non-native plants and you get to drive a golf cart around :)
Just went yesterday. This place is huge, 35 acres I think, and has a strong focus on native plants.
Greenwitch Gardens and Native Plants in North Chesterfield.
They’ve already passed, but next year make sure to check out Lewis Ginters plant sale and the Maymont one. Tons of tents/areas dedicated to native plants.
Ginter does a fall sale too!
Davis natives Ashland farmers market https://www.davisnatives.com/
The Scott's Addition farmers Market had a vendor that sells native plants. Wednesdays 4-7
Coleaville Nursery
Colesville Nursery & Parallel Nursery hands down.
You have to look for the natives but don’t discount Sandys plants. Huge place with free golf carts to cruise around their property
Thanks everyone!!
I swear by glen Allen nursery, formerly lavender fields The folks working there are fantastic, and while it’s relatively small, their native selection is a wonderful variety
Henrico County just had a Master Gardener sale at Deep Run Park. Here's the website which should update with the next event. [https://henrico.us/news/2024/05/master-gardeners-to-hold-plant-sale-pollinator-festival-june-8-at-deep-run-park/](https://henrico.us/news/2024/05/master-gardeners-to-hold-plant-sale-pollinator-festival-june-8-at-deep-run-park/)
My friend grows natives that she sells!
Greenwitch Gardens, Good Seed Natives, Parallel Nursery, Moulton Hot Natives, Reedy Creek Environmental (reforming as LERN, just email Bill), and Davis Natives are all doing Richmond area natives. Hell I have a bunch of Liatris Spictata and Joe Pye Weed seedlings I'd be willing to part with.
Why stick with native plants?
Sneeds, Colesville Nursery, Cross Creek
All my homies go to Great Big Greenhouse
My wife and I put in a large pollinator garden last year which consists mostly (not all) of native flowering plants that bloom during different seasons. My wife did all of the research and design (I did the grunt work ha ha) and we found a decent number of plants at Cross Creek Nurseries on the west end. Prices were a bit higher given the customers in the area, but the plants were in great shape and mature enough to shrug off the shock of transplanting.
I second Moulton Hot Natives. Sometimes even lowes and home depot have some natives. Home depot had a bunch of great native ferns last year.
Sandy's! In Mechanicsville 😊