Charging Up for Fall: Summer Activities at Our Native Plant Nursery
Heads up, plant enthusiasts! Our Native Plant Nursery is taking a summer break from retail sales, but we’ll be back and blooming on September 9th—just in time to meet all your fall planting needs!
Though we’re hitting the pause button on sales, it’s anything but a lazy summer here at the nursery. We’re using this time to charge ahead with some essential nursery tasks, including:
Seed collection: Every plant at our nursery starts from a seed or cutting that our team hand-collects from wild stands in the plant’s watershed of origin. We’re out and about gathering propagules year-round, with summer being the prime time for annuals as well as some berries and perennials. Keeping a diverse and plentiful seed bank at our nursery ensures that we can produce enough plants to supply our 20+ restoration projects and those of public land managers like Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District—not to mention that you get to enjoy them in your garden too!
Watershed Stewards Program Corpsmembers collect native plant seeds at the summit of Mount Umunhum.
Nursery team members Serena and Siena inspect and approve young seedlings in propagation flats.
Prepping for Planting Season: As the seedlings we started earlier this year mature, we’ve been busy moving them from seed flats into pots so they have plenty of room to grow. They are among 20,000+ plants in our inventory that need ongoing care to grow and thrive—including rare and endemic species, many with special care needs. In addition to maintaining plants, we are testing to make sure that they are Phytophthora-free before they head out to public land sites.
Nursery Director Deanna Giuliano gives Habitat Restoration Interns a tour of the nursery.
Education and Training: Throughout the seasons, our nursery serves as a buzzing hub of learning for our interns and AmeriCorps members. At its inspiring location within Foothills Nature Preserve, these young professionals gain hands-on experience with botany, native plant identification, and plant propagation. Many interns say their time at our nursery was the highlight of the program for them—motivating them to spread their budding love of plants and nature with others.
We heart hummingbird sage, too!
It’s a full schedule, but it’s all part of the work we love—surrounded by incredible folks and flora. We can’t wait to greet you with an even more vibrant array of plants and an energized crew this September!
By Deanna Giuliano, Nursery Director
