Boston Flora

Tag: Wild Seed Project

  • Saturday, December 3, 7:00 pm – Wild Seed Project: Grassroots Seed Propagation of New England Native Plants

    The New England Botanical Club will hold its December meeting on December 3 at 7 pm at Haller Lecture Hall at Harvard University, Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Heather McCargo, Founder and Former Executive Director, The Wild Seed Project in North Yarmouth, Maine, will speak on the Wild Seed Project: Grassroots Seed Propagation of New England Native Plants. Native plants are beautiful, important for our local ecosystems, and do not need the high nutrient and water inputs of commonly cultivated plants. In this presentation, Heather covers the many reasons we all should care about our region’s native flora and the importance of bringing these native plants back into our gardens and developed landscapes. She also discusses current native plant trends and issues in the nursery trade (including cloning and the loss of genetic diversity), and explains how we all can support our native flora by planting seed-grown native plants. The meeting is free and open to the public.

    The goal of Wild Seed Project is to build awareness of the vital importance of native plants and to provide people with the tools to restore biodiversity in their own communities. The organization equips community members, public officials and municipalities, and land-holding individuals and organizations – from farmers to land trusts – with the skills and resources they need to collectively repopulate landscapes with native plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience.

    Zizia aptera

  • Wednesday, August 10, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm – Why Native Plants Matter: Beauty, Biodiversity, and Resilience

    The Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury is sponsoring the Annual David H. Smith Memorial Lecture on August 10 at 5:30 pm at the Arboretum.

    Heather McCargo, founder of Wild Seed Project, will share the many reasons we should bring native flora back into our developed landscapes. Native plants are excellent additions to our gardens; they are beautiful, they are important for our regions’ ecosystem functioning, and they do not need the high inputs of water and nutrients of commonly cultivated plants. Heather will provide insight into what is happening in the nursery trade with native plants, including loss of genetic diversity and cloning, and how we can all promote our native flora by planting seed-grown native plants. $5 for PHA members, $10 for nonmembers.

    Registration is required. Sign up here: bit.ly/Heather-McCargo-Lecture

  • Saturday, October 26, 10:30 am – 1:30 pm – Collecting and Sowing Native Seeds

    Heather McCargo, Founder of the Wild Seed Project, will speak on October 26 at 10:30 am at Camp Cedar Hill, 241 Forest Street in Waltham, on Collecting and Sowing Native Seeds, a lecture sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts. $52 for Grow Native members, $62 for nonmembers. Register at www.grownativemass.org.

    Using native plants grown from seed helps us create resilient landscapes that are rich in genetic diversity. This class will focus on essential principles for propagating herbaceous wildflowers, woody plants, and ferns—and give us hands-on practice with techniques to do so successfully. Heather McCargo emphasizes the benefits of using natural processes to do much of the work, such as sowing seed outside in the fall and taking advantage of the seasonal weather patterns that each species needs to germinate. She will discuss ecologically responsible collection practices and timing; proper seed handling and storage; and describe simple methods for setting up an outdoor propagation area. The program will also recommend books and other resources for native plant propagation, and give you practice sowing seeds in pots, which you will take home at the end of the program.

    Heather McCargo is the founder and executive director of Wild Seed Project, a non-profit organization based in Maine. She is an educator with 30 years of expertise in plant propagation, landscape design, and conservation. Heather was the head propagator at Garden in the Woods during the 1990s, and has an M.A. from the Conway School of Landscape Design.

    Heather McCargo, executive director at the Wild Seed Project