Resources

Photo credit: Vicki Bonk

Regional Native Plant Resources

Mail order
Prairie Moon Nursery
Prairie Nursery
Seed Savers Exchange (non-native and not necessarily regional, but a non-profit dedicated to preserving heirloom, organic vegetable and fruit seeds)

A Sampling of Regional Native Plant Nurseries and Landscape Designers (Minnesota)
Blazing Star Gardens: Design and landscaping services. Phone orders for pick up (Owatonna) or delivery.
Boreal Natives: A satellite of Prairie Restorations. Esko, MN.
Dragonfly Gardens: Dragonfly Gardens carries a wide range of native perennials, grasses, ferns, shrubs, and trees to restore native habitats from shoreland, wetlands, and forests, to prairies. Amery, WI.
Ecoscapes Sustainable Landscaping: Design and landscaping services. Delivery only for plant stock.
Glacial Ridge Growers: Saturday St. Paul Farmer’s Market.
Hedberg Landscape: Stillwater.
Hilscher Design & Ecology: Uniquely designed sustainable landscapes in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. As both a Registered Landscape Architect and Native Plant Ecologist, Diane Hilscher has designed and guided construction for residential, nature centers, business and public projects for over 30 years. 
Kinnickinnic Natives: Retail location in River Falls, WI.
Landscape Alternatives:  Shafer retail location.
Minnesota Native Landscapes: Minnesota Native Landscapes is a full service ecological restoration company. Ecological services range from native seeding to prescribed burning to bio-engineering, and everything in between. Ostego, MN.
Morning Sky Greenery: A Minnesota Native Plant Nursery, growing native plants for shoreline restoration, raingardens and infiltration basins, and backyard butterfly, birdwatcher and pollinator gardens. Retail and online. Morris, MN.
Native Sun: See website for plant sale events
Natural Shore: Shoreline, ponds, wetlands, and prairies. Retail location in Independence, MN.
Naturally Wild: Minneapolis location in May and June.
Outback Nursery: Design and landscaping services. Hastings retail location.
Pasque Ecological Design: Specializing in providing susainable landscape architecture services for residential, commercial, public, and institutional clients, including schools and faith-based communities.
Prairie Restorations: Offers planning, installation, and management services for native landscaping projects of any kind. Retail store located in Princeton, MN offers locally grown native grasses, wildflowers, trees, and shrubs. Specializes in corporate, residential, public, wetland/shoreline restorations as well as buckthorn removal and burn/mowing maintenance.
ReWild Gardens: Offers a wide range of services from a garden plan for your DIY project to a full garden renovation with install.
Simonet Design: Landscape master planning, site design, and sustainable landscape design.
Sogn Valley Farm: Saturday St. Paul farmers market. Certified organic produce, native plants, and CSA.
Sunshine Gardens Nursery: A full service landscaping company serving Pine River, Backus, Aitkin, Pequot Lakes, Crosslake, Ideal Township, Longville, Walker, Fifty Lakes, Outing, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, and Nisswa. Nursery located in Pine River, MN.
True Nature Design: Design, installation, and management services.

Organic Lawn Care
Green Core
Organic Bob

Neighborhood Greening's Picks for Events, Classes, and Volunteer Opportunities

 

WildOnes “Healing the Earth One Yard at a Time”: Monthly Meetings

Wild Ones’ mission is to promote environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration, and establishment of native plant communities.

Find a local chapter near you throughout the U.S.Most chapters meet monthly, September through May.

Nokomis Naturescape “Gardeneering”
Ongoing May-October, most Tuesday evenings.

Interested in learning how to ecoscape with Minnesota native plants? Want to lend a hand in a spectacular public garden? Then say no more! Join our merry group of gardeneers (that’s not a typo!) to learn, volunteer, and enjoy an occasional ice cream cone. Visit the Naturescape’s facebook page to sign up to be notified about the season’s volunteer schedule. We roll up our sleeves most (but not all) Tuesday evenings from 6-8 p.m. Our schedule shifts to 5-7 p.m. when the sun starts to go down earlier later in the season.
 

Hawk Ridge, Duluth: September-October

Fall is a thrilling time at Hawk Ridge! Be sure to visit this amazing migratory phenomenon. Hawk Ridge is known as one of the major sites for observation of raptor migration. Visitors come from all over the world in the fall. Indeed, our guest register has entries from thousands of visitors who have come from all 50 states and from over 40 foreign countries.

Most raptors are reluctant to cross large bodies of water. When they migrate south and encounter Lake Superior, the birds naturally veer southwest along the lakeshore. They concentrate in impressive numbers on the bluffs overlooking East Duluth and can be easily seen from the overlook at Hawk Ridge. Of the 20 species of raptors and vultures that have been seen at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve, the peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon are among the rarest. Whether species are common or rare, they are all thrilling to watch as they traverse the ridge, often at or below eye level. Naturalists are onsite until the end of October. Click the above link for visitor information. Who knew this was practically in our own backyards? Bring lawn chairs, a pot of coffee, binoculars, and enjoy life in the slow lane for awhile.

 

 
 

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