Native Plant Propagation

A key aspect of prairie restoration is ensuring that we have native plant seeds and plugs to plant once invasive species have been removed. Revegetating the prairies with native plants restores the prairies to their historic state, and provides critical habitat for prairie wildlife. For example, conservation partners are growing and planting the rare Golden Paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta) in South Sound prairies. They are also propagating the Harsh Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida), which is used by the imperiled Taylor's checkerspot butterfly as a larval host.

Three South Sound nurseries play a major role in this effort. Shotwell's Nursery, operated by the Center for Natural Lands Management, works with over 100 native plant species for use in prairie restoration, with a focus on propagating 30-50 rare prairie species at any one time. Staff and volunteers at Shotwell's Nursery collect seeds from regional prairies, clean the seeds, cultivate plant plugs, conduct research into plant collection and propagation methods, and ultimately supply native seeds and plugs to conservation partners throughout the region.

Eight acres of Webster’s Nursery are leased and operated by the Center for Natural Lands Management for seed production. Species there focus on host and larval sources for imperiled butterfly species. The Sustainable Prisons Project, run through the Evergreen State College, partners with the Center for Natural Lands Management to produce upwards of 400,000 plugs for use in outplanting on regional prairie sites.

For more information on native plant propagation, contact Angela Winter: awinter@cnlm.org, 360-464-0540.