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Native Plants: An Introduction

Homeowners, landscapers, and businesses are increasingly recognizing the benefits of native plants. Native plants provide beauty while enhancing biodiversity, enriching soil systems, and benefiting wildlife.

We’re thrilled to be part of this growing movement. If you’re new to the idea of native plants, don’t worry!

Our Design & Education Manager (and resident native plant expert), Trevor Smith, has an enlightening video to guide you through the basics.

Small Steps Create Big Impacts

Here at Weston Nurseries, we believe that little changes can have big impacts. One of the many ways we can all contribute to those big impacts is by selecting and utilizing native plants in our gardens and landscapes.

We are on a mission to restore landscapes, aligning them with nature’s harmony. We would love for you to join us in that mission. You can get your native plants today at your closest Weston Nurseries location. We also offer online sales for pickup or delivery through our local Garden Centers, or we can ship direct from Farm To Door™! 

Let’s make a positive impact together!

Guidelines and Resources

Read our Native Garden Guidelines, check out our Native Blog posts, plan your next garden using our Native Garden Design Guidelines. You can even get answers to your questions from a Native Expert on our staff!

Growing Natives

Native Garden Guidelines

Native Garden Designs

Ask The
Expert

Frequently Asked Questions

Our Native Growing Initiative

Kait West, Grow Supervisor

Peter Mezitt, President of Weston Nurseries, fondly remembers the positive influence their large-scale growing operation once had on the community. In 2020, he reignited this passion and reintroduced our grow operation, overcoming industry challenges to produce 20,000 perennials that first year.

Each year since, we’ve grown, adapted, and expanded our variety of native plants, trees, and shrubs. We proudly launched the ‘Weston Rewilding’ initiative, aimed at enriching our community and beyond with beautiful native plants from our ecoregion, available at your closest Weston Nurseries location. We also offer online sales through our local Garden Centers, or we can ship direct from Farm To Door™.

Native Garden Guidelines

Native Plants

We rely upon many species native to this region (and those native to regions of similar climate) for...

Read More

Native Perennial Garden Designs

Be an ecological hero! Use our Native Garden Designs to plan out your next project.

Posts About Natives

Hummingbirds!

Hummingbirds are here! With our cool spring, I had forgotten to check on the progress of the hummingbird...

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Ladybug

Ladybugs

If, like me, you live in a pale colored house with an sunny, south-western aspect, you will always...

Read More

Frequently Asked Questions

The majority of plants branded under the Weston Rewilding tag are grown from seed. However, in certain cases, plant divisions may be used (e.g., hay-scented ferns, mayapples, prickly pears) or plants may be propagated by potting up runners from the mother plant (e.g., Virginia strawberry). 

For plants not propagated by Weston Nurseries, our operating philosophy dictates that we source starter plants from as close to New England as possible, but the native plant vendor base is still relatively small, so we currently rely on propagation nurseries located in MA, IL, MD, MI, NC, NJ, PA, and VA who start seeds or propagate plants by division. We continue to seek reliable local sources of starter plants, and we plan to increase the number of plants we grow ourselves from locally collected or locally sourced seed in the coming years.

In the case of plants we propagate from seed here at Weston Nurseries, seeds are either collected locally from mature managed plots on private property or from plants growing in the nursery. We also purchase seed from reputable local vendors such as Wild Seed Project (based in North Yarmouth, ME) and Eco59 (a farmer-led native plant seed collective based in Connecticut). 

We do not typically gather seed from the wild; we rely on reputable vendors such as Wild Seed Project and Eco59 which use documented seed collection protocols for any wild-collected seed.  As mentioned above, we also gather seed from mature managed plots on local private property or from plants growing in the nursery.  

We are happy to share propagation information with any customer who inquires, but we have not yet published such a document for our customers.  This is a good idea and something we’ll consider in the future!  

We do not use neonicotinoids on any plants we grow in our nursery, including the native plants.  

We are very careful about the use of any pesticides on the plants we produce, but when we must use them, we default to products labeled as approved for organic gardening (e.g., horticultural soap, Neem oil, copper fungicide).  It is only in the case of extreme insect pressure where we may use pyrethrum, which is a natural insecticide.  Prior to applying any of these products on our plants, we scout to make sure beneficial insects are not present such as our much-adored monarch butterfly and spicebush swallowtail caterpillars.    

Ask the Native Expert

Other question about natives? Ask our expert.

Online Shopping at Weston Nurseries

We are excited to offer two unique opportunities to shop online at Weston Nurseries.

Farm To Door™

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Plants shipped directly to you!

Browse our online inventory for a huge selection of plants available to ship directly from the farm to your home! Anywhere in the Continental US except states where prohibited by law!*

Shop Our Garden Centers

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Great for large plants and larger orders!

Shop your local store for plants, garden supplies, soil, mulch and more. Then pick up your order at the garden center or arrange for local drop off!

If you are interested in ordering gift cards, please click here!
*Some restrictions may apply to certain states.

FLASH SALE

Memorial Day Weekend Flash Sale On Hydrangeas!

25% off all Hydrangeas this weekend only!

Saturday, May 25th – Monday, May 27th! 

Hydrangeas are a classic and beautiful sign of summer. Celebrate Memorial Day Weekend by sprucing up your yard with some new hydrangeas. Discount applies at all locations.

*Sale Fine Print:

For “Cash and Carry” transactions only. Offer good while supplies last.

No open orders or deliveries for future dates. All Flash Sale products must be taken the same day. Not valid on previous orders. No transfers allowed between stores on any sale items.

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