ABOUT OUR PLANTS
Our nursery offers a thoughtfully-curated selection of native plants that are suited to the local area—ones that will make a large impact when planted into habitat corridors! For those who are familiar with us, please expect changes with our inventory: We have fine-tuned our selection from past years, with a goal to place a higher value on offering the most beneficial plants for this area, over the quantity of species that we carry. We are happy to now grow many species that are not widely offered in the nursery industry. 
​

LOCAL GENOTYPES
What are they, and why are they important?
All of the plants we now offer at our nursery are local genotype. What does this mean? Read on to learn, and to see why we think this is important. ​

When you buy a plant labeled native, have you ever wondered where its ancestors lived? Where its roots and genes can be traced to? Some species of plants that naturally occur in our area are also native to other parts of Virginia, as well as other parts of the U.S., or even other countries. So, though it may be the same species, the plant that you're seeing at a nursery in Virginia may have originated from a plant that naturally lived hundreds or thousands of miles away. Is this native?

Let's take a look at Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), for example. This plant is native to habitats in Virginia—but, it's also native to western states like Arizona, where it grows in habitats like pinyon-juniper woodlands. These dry places are very different from our environment here. They're defined by the presence of pinyon pine and juniper trees and only receive between 7 and 25 inches of rain a year—and this rain can be very seasonal, coming mostly in the form of summer monsoons or, in other areas, winter snow. In pinyon-juniper woodlands, Butterflyweed dwells with companion natives like agaves and a variety of cacti—​all at an elevation from 4500 to 7500 feet—and is one of only a few plants within this habitat that is native to both Arizona and Virginia. 

Butterflyweed has adapted within these western habitats with wildlife like pronghorn antelope, badgers, and jackrabbits—and, though it is the same species that we have in Virginia, the environment where it lives has altered it. The climate, the lack of rainfall, the elevation: all of these factors have added in to create a plant that's strongly adapted to—and perfect—for its Arizona environment. These traits are then passed down through its genetics to create offspring that are, likewise, perfectly suited to the environment where they live. If you take one of these offspring, however, and bring it to a Virginia habitat—with a different climate, more rainfall, and new wildlife—these adaptations to Arizona make it weak, susceptible, and completely unsuited to our Virginia environment.
​
When you see Butterflyweed at a nursery in Virginia, does its lineage trace to a plant living in Arizona—one that has adapted over time to Arizona's climate and wildlife—or are you purchasing one that originated right here in Virginia?

Butterflyweed is native to Virginia and also to places like Arizona. Both of these places have very different climates which can affect the habit of the plant and how wildlife uses it.

Most native plants available from Virginia nurseries do not have roots that trace back to Virginia, and people have begun to question this: is it a good idea to introduce plants into our Virginia ecosystems that, though they're the same species as ones occurring here, have adapted with and originated in a place so entirely different? 

All the plants we now offer at our nursery are local genotype. This means their lineage traces directly back to our area of Virginia. The Butterflyweed we carry is from parent material that grows right here and has adapted in this climate, with the wildlife that lives in this part of Virginia.
 
We believe helping native plants means choosing to grow and plant local genotypes, instead of using commercialized strains of native species sourced from lands outside of our area. Let's take a deeper look at why this matters: 

Let's think back to Butterflyweed. If you plant Butterflyweed plants here in Virginia that are of Arizona origin—and that are adapted to Arizona's environment—they have the ability to cross pollinate with local wild butterflyweeds, making any future generations more suited to Arizona's climate and less suited to our climate—our temperature, rainfall, etc. This altering of the future genetics of a species, creating offspring that are no longer well-suited to our area, is known as gene pollution, a crisis with the potential to weaken entire populations of native plants. 

Because plants that are not local genotype have adapted to climates very different from ours, they can also have different appearances and behave in more or less aggressive ways (and therefore outcompete local wild natives or die off quickly). They have adapted to seasonal patterns within their climates, and this may result in differences as well: some may emerge in spring earlier or later or have altered blooming periods. These changes can interfere with the plant/wildlife relationships, limiting these interactions within a Virginia ecosystem. 

​Rather than unintentionally weakening native plant populations, it's important to make sure we are truly helping natives when we add them to our properties. This is why we believe it's always best to choose local genotypes.