Nursery Review: Native Plant Nursery (Ann Arbor Farmers Market)

Yesterday we explored the wonderful opportunities afforded to us by Butterfly Weed, one of the many excellent native plants found here in Southeastern Michigan.  While I fully intend to launch at length into a diatribe about why native gardening is utterly amazing, for now I figured I would just mention a good place to stop by tomorrow, if you happen to be heading to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.  Even if you didn't have such a trip in your plans, consider going just for the Native Plant Nursery.  As the deceptively simple name suggests, they pretty much specialize in plants native to our local region, with emphasis on wildflowers and grasses.  That said, they also produce trees and shrubs, and will be happy to break down that broad wildflower category into appropriate packages, depending on your growing conditions and the level of restoration to wild conditions, if any, you want to achieve.  You will almost always run into this fellow here:

Greg is holding my latest purchase, a Prairie Dock, two Ohio Spiderworts, and two Joe Pye Weeds.  More on these individually later.

His name is Greg Vaclavek, probably the most (mind the pun) gregarious individual I have ever run into in the plant growing industry.  He's able to answer even my most plant-geek plant questions, and much can be gleaned about what you can/should be doing with plants just by listening to him talking; there will often be a line full of patient people waiting to get a chance to pick the ear of the guru.  Even if you end up buying nothing, a trip to even catch a little free garden wisdom here is worth it.  That said, if you do come to buy, everything is laid out with a ton of information in front of each plant.

Sorry for the usual glare.  This was on a tablet camera. 

My advice to first time native plant growers is the same advice that I would give to novice gardeners of any type: pick the right plant for the right place.  If that label calls for sun or shade, bake or cover accordingly.  If it calls for moisture or dryness, soak or neglect accordingly.  Native plants will work well in cultivation in general, but even more than some exotic annuals and perennials, they will thrive if you try to mimic their natural conditions.  They were, after all, made for doing it well right here, right now.  Greg and company have their plants displayed as such, with simple yet abundant data on what does and does not work for each plant.  Best of all, they are all locally sourced and grown from wild type seed; your flower will actually be a child of a long line of plants from our corner of Michigan!

In addition to keeping it real with the local varieties, they offer kits to make breaking into the experience that much easier and once you get used to the game, can also take requests to bring in the following week for offerings that they don't typical bring in.  They take cash, but you can always get tokens at the market office if you are running on plastic.  As should be obvious by now, they don't have an independent storefront, and you pretty much have to come to the market to visit the nursery, although in a pinch alternative arrangements could probably be made.  That should not be an issue though; why would you not want to go to the market?!