I finally had a chance to visit Blue Stem Natives, a native plant nursery in Norwell. I thought it was further away from me, but it took about 40 minutes, outside of rush hour to get there from north of Boston. It is absolutely worth the trip to visit this women-owned, native only nursery. I met Kristen, who along with Britt, started the nursery 5 years ago. She said that people told them they would never succeed selling only native plants, yet here they are five years later continuing to grow, and offering a broad selection of plants.
They bring in some plants from other growers, including plugs that they grow out to bigger plants, but the significant part of their operation is growing plants from locally collected seed and other local resources. They have a 20 acre farm from which they collect much of their seed, and like Van Berkum, who I wrote about in my last newsletter, they do this work responsibly.
I want to take a quick break and make sure I didn’t climb on one of my many soap boxes. I know that I have been spending a lot of time talking native this and ecosystem that, but it is so important to be having these discussions. Demand for native plants is exploding and nurseries like this and others are proof of that. However, I still rejoice in so many of our non-native beauties from Peonies to Roses to Hydrangeas to Stewartias. I encourage you to keep learning and start adding some of the beautiful native plants to your garden and see the impact beyond just the flowers. With some learning of new maintenance practices you can keep native plants attractive in even a small garden.
Back to Blue Stem Natives. What is truly impressive is their online ordering system, which even keeps track of inventory. If you know what you want, then you can order and they will have it ready for pick-up in short order. If you don’t know, they have a great tool to search by conditions in your garden, seasonal interest, wildlife attraction and others. If they don’t have a plant in inventory you can sign-up and be notified when it is back. Plant shopping can be a hassle, and especially when looking for native plants at bigger nurseries that often only have the popular ones and salespeople who are largely ignorant of native plants.
Spend some time on their website, get a little education, and then make a visit. You will meet knowledgeable, caring people who will give you all the help you need. Oh, and they have an awesome and friendly dog who loves to hunt the rabbits at the nursery, and no, you can’t take him home!
Small businesses like this who work hard and deliver great product deserve our support.
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