Availability of native plants
It's a bit frustrating to hand out lists of good plants to grow in programs, knowing that it'll be hard to find them to purchase.
You've really got to be ready to transplant volunteers or grow them yourself from seed or cuttings or visit native plant society sales and specialty nurseries (or do online ordering).
We have lots of great plants in the Eastern U.S. that aren't readily available for various reasons.
They take a long time to grow to flowering size (lots of woodland wildflowers); they have deep roots quickly, so aren't easily held in containers (many canopy trees); they're hard to propagate (seed germination is complex in native species), etc.
But, they're all well worth the effort.
You've really got to be ready to transplant volunteers or grow them yourself from seed or cuttings or visit native plant society sales and specialty nurseries (or do online ordering).
We have lots of great plants in the Eastern U.S. that aren't readily available for various reasons.
They take a long time to grow to flowering size (lots of woodland wildflowers); they have deep roots quickly, so aren't easily held in containers (many canopy trees); they're hard to propagate (seed germination is complex in native species), etc.
But, they're all well worth the effort.
