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We grow native plants to contribute to a healthy landscape and ecosystem, which include the presence of arthropods—caterpillars, larvae, and mature insects, all of which have unique ecological roles. Many arthropods have evolved preferences and even requirements for particular plant species that serve as food and habitat. These plants are considered hosts. As growers of host species, we want to support both these creatures and the host plant. This leads to the question of how much herbivory—plan

We grow native plants to contribute to a healthy landscape and ecosystem, which include the presence of arthropods—caterpillars, larvae, and mature insects, all of which have unique ecological roles. Many arthropods have evolved preferences and even requirements for particular plant species that serve as food and habitat. These plants are considered hosts. As growers of host species, we want to support both these creatures and the host plant. This leads to the question of how much herbivory—plan

1.1K viewsSep 29, 2022

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The click beetle (Elateridae sp.) exploring the fleshy flower of umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) is enacting a ritual that evolved more than 95 million years ago. Magnolias emerged at about that time, making them among the first flowering plants on Earth. While dinosaurs roamed the planet then, bees did not yet exist, so magnolias evolved to be pollinated by more ancient insects: beetles. Over time, beetle pollination has influenced the form and even the scent of magnolia flowers. And to

The click beetle (Elateridae sp.) exploring the fleshy flower of umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) is enacting a ritual that evolved more than 95 million years ago. Magnolias emerged at about that time, making them among the first flowering plants on Earth. While dinosaurs roamed the planet then, bees did not yet exist, so magnolias evolved to be pollinated by more ancient insects: beetles. Over time, beetle pollination has influenced the form and even the scent of magnolia flowers. And to

2.5K views11 months ago

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Did you see our recent posts about our native plant intern projects in conservation and ecological horticulture? We're able to offer these hands-on learning opportunities only because generous benefactors set aside funding for our internships. August is Make-A-Will Month, and you can support our mission for years to come by including a legacy gift in your will. We partner with @FreeWillHQ so that everyone can continue making an impact with Native Plant Trust. Get started here: https://frwill.lin

Did you see our recent posts about our native plant intern projects in conservation and ecological horticulture? We're able to offer these hands-on learning opportunities only because generous benefactors set aside funding for our internships. August is Make-A-Will Month, and you can support our mission for years to come by including a legacy gift in your will. We partner with @FreeWillHQ so that everyone can continue making an impact with Native Plant Trust. Get started here: https://frwill.lin

952 views8 months ago

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It's GivingTuesday, and we are asking those who support New England native plants to help us create a rainwater-catchment system for Nasami Farm, our native plant nursery in western Massachusetts. Nasami Farm's small staff propagates thousands of native plants a year, many from wild-harvested seed. We sell some of these plants to the public to create backyard pollinator habitat and grow some for public agencies to restore damaged ecosystems. This is part of our mission to conserve and promote Ne

It's GivingTuesday, and we are asking those who support New England native plants to help us create a rainwater-catchment system for Nasami Farm, our native plant nursery in western Massachusetts. Nasami Farm's small staff propagates thousands of native plants a year, many from wild-harvested seed. We sell some of these plants to the public to create backyard pollinator habitat and grow some for public agencies to restore damaged ecosystems. This is part of our mission to conserve and promote Ne

3.5K views5 months ago

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It is a matter of personal honor for all plant lovers to leave meadow bottle gentian (Gentiana clausa) undisturbed, if only to enjoy the struggle between pollinator and flower. (Besides, blue flowers like these are uncommon in our flora and are often the target of poachers.) The meadow bottle gentian has flowers that never open fully, requiring only the strongest of bumblebees to force their way in for the nectar and pollen. The challenge can be quite amusing to witness, just as the contented bu

It is a matter of personal honor for all plant lovers to leave meadow bottle gentian (Gentiana clausa) undisturbed, if only to enjoy the struggle between pollinator and flower. (Besides, blue flowers like these are uncommon in our flora and are often the target of poachers.) The meadow bottle gentian has flowers that never open fully, requiring only the strongest of bumblebees to force their way in for the nectar and pollen. The challenge can be quite amusing to witness, just as the contented bu

38.3K views8 months ago

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Welcome to our occasional Meet This Plant series. Here's Sarah at Garden in the Woods with one of her faves: Redbud (Cercis canadensis). | Native Plant Trust

Welcome to our occasional Meet This Plant series. Here's Sarah at Garden in the Woods with one of her faves: Redbud (Cercis canadensis). | Native Plant Trust

1.4K viewsJul 18, 2024

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The bell-shaped vermilion flowers of cardinal-flower (Lobelia cardinalis, a.k.a. red lobelia) are perfectly adapted to be pollinated by hummingbirds. Flower spikes reach three to six feet in height and bloom from bottom to top over a period of several weeks. Flowering in midsummer, cardinal-flower makes a dramatic addition to the native plant garden, and like its blue-flowering counterpart, Lobelia siphilitica, it often self-seeds to gift the gardener with new plants the next season. As this vid

The bell-shaped vermilion flowers of cardinal-flower (Lobelia cardinalis, a.k.a. red lobelia) are perfectly adapted to be pollinated by hummingbirds. Flower spikes reach three to six feet in height and bloom from bottom to top over a period of several weeks. Flowering in midsummer, cardinal-flower makes a dramatic addition to the native plant garden, and like its blue-flowering counterpart, Lobelia siphilitica, it often self-seeds to gift the gardener with new plants the next season. As this vid

55.2K views9 months ago

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Native Plant Trust on Reels

869 viewsJul 12, 2023

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Some years, called ‘mast’ years, nut trees produce a large number of seeds. You may notice it when hiking or walking in the woods and an acorn (or 10) drops on your head. The strategy is to overwhelm predators with a bounty to ensure that a small percentage of seeds will survive. This year we happened upon a lot of bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) seed at one of our regular collection sites. Although the sight of SO many seeds can heighten expectations, many seeds have already been invaded

5.9K viewsNov 17, 2023

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It's milkweed time! Sarah, our plant sales expert at Garden in the Woods' Garden Shop in Framingham, MA, explains the conditions three native milkweed species need to thrive. | Native Plant Trust

4.1K viewsAug 8, 2024

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Meet our Northern walking stick (Diapheromera femorata), a master of camouflage and subterfuge. Seen here is a male, usually smaller than females, which can grow to 7 inches long. Oaks and hazelnuts sustain this insect from hatchling to adulthood. Looking like a branch certainly helps avoid being eaten, but its reproductive cycle is also ingenious. The eggs are dropped from a tree, one at a time, during late August into September. The eggs mimic seeds, each sporting an edible attachment that clo

5.2K viewsSep 21, 2021

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This week Nasami Farm staff began to relocate some plants that were sown over the past few months in preparation for the fast approaching Spring! These plants spent the winter in our cooler greenhouses and staff are moving them into our warmer greenhouses where they'll germinate in their own time. Video courtesy of Karime Gutierrez, Nursery Assistant, ©Native Plant Trust #nativeplanttrust #nativeplants #newenglandnativeplants #newengland #nativetrees #plants #horticulture #ecologicalhorticulture

1.3K viewsMar 3, 2024

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Each fall the nursery team at Nasami Farm makes a trip to the coastal sandplain grasslands of Cape Cod, MA, to collect wild seed from species found there. We partner with several land trusts and town governments to ecologically and sustainably harvest seed for common species. This year one of the seeds found in abundance was the ubiquitous and resilient pitch pine (Pinus rigida). The rigid, spiky cones tightly hold the seed, waiting for the correct temperature and conditions to release, often pr

2.5K viewsNov 9, 2023

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This month at Nasami Farm nursery, we continue our seed sowing. To increase our offerings and our efficiency in producing thousands of native seed-grown plants, we have begun sowing seeds directly into plug trays. This works best for low-maintenance species that readily germinate (think hardy groundcovers, perennials, and grasses). By getting a head start on propagation, we reduce the amount of time and labor required to transplant seedlings from seed trays to plugs in the spring, enabling us to

663 viewsJan 20, 2023

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Every year, horticulture interns at Garden in the Woods, our native plant botanic garden in Framingham, MA, raise three species of native giant silk moths: cecropia, polyphemus and promethea moths. The adult moths are primarily nocturnal and have a short lifespan, so it is very rare for people to see these creatures. Our cocoon display makes the connection that the existence of these charismatic insects relies solely on the presence of their preferred host plant. Native trees like oaks, hickorie

35K viewsJun 14, 2024

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Join us for Learnings from the Field: Practical Tips for Prescribed Burns on November 12 from 6 - 7:30PM as we wrap up our special Fire Ecology series. This free event is an opportunity to hear two experts discuss how they planned for and carried out prescribed burns in an effort to restore balance to vulnerable ecosystems. Laura Mattei, director of Conservation at Sudbury Valley Trustees, and Dan Jaffe Wilder, director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation, will share their observa

56.3K views6 months ago

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Every year, horticulture interns and staff at Garden in the Woods, our native plant botanic garden in Framingham, MA, raise three species of native giant silk moths—cecropia, polyphemus and promethea—in a screened cage. Here, an adult cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia), newly emerged from its cocoon, crawls toward the edge of the cage and begins climbing the screen wall. It is important that the moths climb a vertical surface after emerging from its cocoon, a process called eclosure. In this po

22.2K viewsJun 16, 2024

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With warmer temperatures last week, the painted turtles at Garden in the Woods—our native plant botanic garden in Framingham, MA—made an appearance under the ice! Painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) enter a lethargic state in the winter known as brumation, similar to hibernation. However, if temperatures warm up enough during the day, it's not uncommon to see painted turtles under the ice. As temperatures decline, this painted turtle will likely find its way back under the mud, where its heart and

31.2K viewsJan 8, 2024

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Ever wondered what’s going on inside our greenhouses during the winter months? Native Plant Trust’s nursery manager Alexis Doshas has the scoop! #wintergreenhouse #nativeplanttrust #seedsowing #winterseedsowing #nativeseed #nativeseeds #nativeplants #nativeplantsofmassachusetts #nativeplantsofnewengland | Native Plant Trust

797 viewsJan 24, 2025

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Installing the new bridge at Hop Brook, Garden in the Woods, our native plant botanic garden in Framingham, MA. | Native Plant Trust

1.7K viewsDec 30, 2023

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Uli Lorimer, our director of Horticulture, estimates that this bag holds more than a half-million blue vervain (Verbena hastata) seeds gathered in the first harvest from the seed-growing plots at Nasami Farm, our nursery in western Mass. These plots, created with a grant from Northeast SARE, contain several common plant species grown strictly to increase seed supply. Our new seed-cleaning and -storage facilities are part of the emerging role Nasami Farm will play in the Northeast Seed Network, w

1.6K viewsNov 28, 2024

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When the winds of winter begin to blow, the idyllic moments of high summer, the field-work season, drift back to me. Paddling through this southern wild rice (Zizania aquatica), the subject of a multi-year research project, I observed this plant’s importance as a pollen source for native bumblebees (Bombus spp.) and generalist pollinators. —Director of Conservation Michael Piantedosi | Native Plant Trust

933 viewsNov 19, 2019

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Swollen with rain and meltwater from yesterday's storm, Hop Brook was raging under the new bridge at Garden in the Woods, our native plant botanic garden in Framingham, MA. Video: Uli Lorimer © Native Plant Trust | Native Plant Trust

2.1K viewsJan 10, 2024

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Join the Movement | NWF Native Plant Habitats

Nasami Farm Nursery Tech Peri Bergquist harvests blue vervain (Verbena hastata) seed from our seed-increase plots in the late fall sun. Nasami Farm is a key seed-processing hub for the Northeast Seed Network, which formed two years ago to help ensure a source of common species' seed to restore landscapes damaged by extreme weather. Read more about the network here: https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/northeast-seed-network/ Video: Alexis Doshas © Native Plant Trust | Native Plant Trust

1.8K viewsOct 17, 2024

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Bulk seed cleaning of path rush (Juncus tenuis ) at Nasami Farm, our nursery in western Massachusetts, features a pasta maker adapted with sandpaper to crush the hard seed capsules and release the tiny seed. The chaff and seed are then passed through a number of sieves to procure clean seed. (Credit for the ingenious repurposing of the pasta maker goes to our director of Horticulture, Uli Lorimer, who received it as a gift from his aunt sometime in the 1980s.) The seed was grown in our SARE-fund

11.1K viewsJan 13, 2025

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Why Native Plants Matter

We’re officially a Native Plant Partner Nursery with the Native Plant Society of Texas! 💚 Through the N.I.C.E. (Natives Improve & Conserve Environments) program, we’re committing to expanding our native plant selection year-round, updating our displays, and even creating a full native plant demonstration garden right here at Smith’s Gardentown! 🌾✨ Huge thanks to the Wichita River Chapter of NPSOT for teaming up with us to make native plants more accessible and celebrated in our community. 🌼 #

1.2K views7 months ago

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We are thrilled to announce that we have reached our Giving Tuesday fundraising goal of $15,000 for a new rainwater catchment system at Nasami Farm! CEO Tim Johnson and Nursery Coordinator Miho Connolly have a special thank you message for all of the generous donors who helped make this achievement possible. This project will greatly improve our sustainability, climate resilience, and the quality of plants we grow for restoration partners. While we are so grateful for all of your support in maki

1.4K views5 months ago

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Why Native Plants? | NWF Native Plant Habitats

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