Diversity equals success in restorations.
We often see customers come into our garden centers in Spring and early Summer looking for seed to help establish their newly prepared restoration site. While seed can certainly be a great option, it shouldn't be your main option... especially in Spring and early summer! At this point, you're probably asking yourself why, and that's a great question. In short, you shouldn't rely solely on seed for your project because it lacks species diversity and generally requires some sort of stratification before it will properly germinate! This means that including live plants in your initial project will help your project to establish more quickly, increase diversity, increase the chance of success, as well as give you the visual aesthetic you're looking for in year one.
Using live plants in your initial installation will help your project to establish more quickly. When you plant a seed, it takes time for the seed to germinate, sprout, and grow into a mature plant. This can take several weeks or even months, and that doesn't include the time the seed needs to cold stratify, which many native species do! so if you only seed in the spring or summer, it means it might be a full year before you start to see germination and growth. That's plenty of time for weeds and non-natives to take over. With live plant plugs, the plants are already growing and have a head start.
Plants offer more species diversity than is possible with seed alone. Simply put, many native species are not available in seed. This is because it is difficult to collect and store seeds from certain species plants and/or the success rate with general seeding is very low. increasing the diversity of your planting is critical to the success and accuracy of your restoration project, not to mention the health of the ecosystem and habitat you are creating.
Live plants are also much more visually appealing in the first year. As mentioned above, some seeds need stratification, resulting in a long wait before you get blooms. This means that if you want to enjoy your native restoration in year one, you really need to be including live plants that will grow and flower the same season.
Finally, live plant plugs have a better chance of success. For all the aforementioned reasons, including live plants will drastically increase the overall health and success of your planting by speeding up the time to when the plants can naturally spread, decrease the time to develop strong root systems, and decrease the chances of non-natives overtaking the planting. If you are considering planting a native garden or landscape, we strongly encourage you to use live plants instead of seed alone. Below are some additional tips for using live plants in your project:
- Choose the right plugs for your soil conditions. Ensuring that the soil type, moisture level, and sun exposure match the growing habit of the plant is critical!
- Plant the plugs at the correct depth and spacing. If a plant is not planted correctly or crowded, it may not do well and could even die.
- Water the plugs after the initial planting if possible. This helps to settle them in and remove any air gaps in the soil. Additionally, in periods of drought during the establishment phase, it can be very helpful to monitor the plant health and water as needed. Once established, your native plants should do fine without watering, but getting their root system established is critical.