Grow rare native plants at home...

Saturday 28th of January 2012

Meet the Natives

aromatic aster with bee-hq2-20101007-002-cu-d-med.jpg

Join Us

Ready to grow rare native plants at home? Fill-out and submit the following form:
On-line enrollment form
Plants are distributed in Barrington, Il - we do not ship plants

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Grow rare native plants at home

and return the seeds they produce for use in restoring conservation lands

Who can do it?

Anyone willing to devote even a few square feet of lawn or garden can grow rare wildflowers and grasses using plants that we provide free of charge.

How much work is it?

Growing the plants we give you is not difficult, but they are a rare, precious resource so we ask you to be committed to looking after them.

After the first year these plants typically need little watering, no fertilizer, and just a little weeding. The most important requirement is that you pick the seeds when they’re mature and take or mail them to garden coordinator.

An Important Note:

Since the purpose of this program is to propagate seeds from original local gene pools, you may not choose a species from this program if you are already growing that same species from another source.

For example, you’d like to grow butterfly milkweed, but you already have a few of them that you purchased from a local nursery. We do not want the pollen from those plants (which may not be of local origin) pollinating the seed we will use, therefore, you will need to choose a different species to grow.

Let’s Get Growing

Simply fill-out and submit our on-line enrollment form. We’ll let you know when the plants are ready for pick-up in June 2011. Questions? Contact a garden coordinator.

Native Seed Gardeners Program | Barrington, Illinois

Fall/Winter Activities

Winter Seed Sowing