This years’ Native Plant Sale will include nine different growers, and we asked each of them to share a little bit about their path to this work, their approaches to growing native plants, products, and methods used.

Plant lists are available directly through each growers’ website or with an email request. See below for the best link for each to learn about what they are growing for the Sale.

Rooted Elements
Rooted Elements is a peat-free plant nursery in Liberty, Maine specializing in seed grown, pesticide-free native plants. Founded in 2021 by life-long friends and gardeners Amber Lewis and Sara Melanson, Rooted Elements currently holds pop-up sales and offers nursery appointments. Native plant garden design and consultation services are also offered.

They grow their plants from seed, primarily from seeds saved from their own gardens, and also collecting ethically from the wild, and purchasing from Wild Seed Project and Prairie Moon Nursery. Plants are grown in organic, peat-free potting soils from Organic Mechanics. Amendments are added as needed.

Visit their website for a current plant list for our Sale.
rootedelements.me/native-plants
[email protected] | [email protected]
Sara 207-323-1813 | Amber 207-589-4093 | Montville, ME

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Rebel Hill Farm
Julie and Pete Beckford are Rebel Hill Farm’s growers whose native perennial plants are all field grown, not grown in pots. This matters as all plants they sell have made it through a winter, and their plants are large and sturdy when they sell them.

They have been selling natives since 1990, before native plants became popular. They do this work as they want gardens to be a valuable part of the local ecology.

They welcome pre-sale orders, which are best placed via phone, and the sooner the better. Availability lists on their website will help with selection prior to the WOMM event. With bigger orders (50 to 100 plants, for example) they will deliver. They accept cash and check only.
RebelHillFarm.com | 207-589-3023 (phone/text is best) | Liberty, ME

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Bas Rouge Farm and Forge
Ivonne Vazquez (she/her/ella) is passionate about native plants, herbs, pollinators, DIY, sustainability, the environment, the outdoors and sharing gardening knowledge. With over 20 years of gardening and outdoor education experience, she is most often found using her skills as a former Master Gardener Volunteer, current Licensed Registered Maine Guide/Recreation, Basic Gardening Instructor at Bangor (Maine) Adult Community Education, small acreage diversified farmer and native plant grower. Ivonne recently earned a certificate in Sustainable Landscaping & Garden Management and in Permaculture Design.

The farm was the recipient of the 2022 North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Farmer-Rancher Award USA (pollinator.org) for their work in pollinator conservation.

At Bas Rouge Farm & Forge their plants are propagated from seed, cuttings, and division. They also purchase certain plugs from a reputable wholesale nursery. Additionally, they are licensed to sell native seeds that are grown and harvested on the farm. Their nursery uses only Coast of Maine products including Seed Starter, Potting Soil and Lobster Compost.

Visit their website for plant lists and availability.
basrougefarm.com/native-plants | 207-221-6671 | Orono, ME

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Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery
Sharon Turner, and son, Eli Berry developed their farm and nursery in 2007 on their father/grandfather’s farm, where they grow inventory with transplanted, self-sown seedlings from their woody 80 acres, as well as propagated cuttings, sprouts, and seeds of their own plants.

Sharon also consults and teaches gardening and garden design privately and through Camden-Rockport Adult Education.

Herbaceous perennials are both purchased as plugs and started from seed, with some buy-in bare root stock and they sell bare-root and field-dug trees and shrubs at a farmer’s market, wholesale to Knox Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, and retail by appointment at the farm.

They use only organic Pro-Mix and the composted manure of their own Dexter Cattle for potting medium.

Visit their website with the current plant list for the Sale.
Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery | Washington, ME | 207-845-2140

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Honey Petal Plants
Astrid Bowlby is owner and sole employee of Honey Petal Plants and she maintains a plant availability list which is updated weekly. In her seventh year in business, she grows close to 100 Maine native species (and counting!), as well as other perennials native to the Appalachian spine and the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. She grew up in rural Maine and has fond memories of walking with her mother to gather mayflowers in the spring and search for precious clumps of lady slipper.

Honey Petal Plants is a low input nursery which means growing the plants in a “lean” way that uses as few resources as possible while still maintaining plant health. Bowlby uses bagged Organic Mechanics peat-free Professional Growers Mix with Biochar. She does not use herbicides or pesticides of any kind, including certified organic ones. She grows from seed, cutting, and division. She is happy to take back her own nursery pots and certain versions of other nursery pots.
[email protected] | (215) 913-2583 | Brooks, ME

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Blue Aster Native Plants
Tracy Weber started Blue Aster Native Plants in 2019. Prior to that, she was a professional gardener in Maine for 20 years. She became interested in native plants over 10 years ago and was frustrated by how difficult it was to find them in local nurseries, particularly uncultivated species.

After becoming involved with and training at Wild Seed Project, she learned how easy it is to grow many native plants from seed and decided to start growing them herself.

Her goal is to provide a wide range of species, both perennials and shrubs, with as much genetic diversity as possible and to grow them in as sustainable a manner as possible.

Check her website for current availability for the Sale.
[email protected] | Blue Aster Native Plants | 207-624-1789 | South China, ME

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Marpa Farm & Nursery
Marpa Farm & Nursery is a small plant nursery run by Clark Heijbroek & Steph Rendall on 20 acres of unceded Wabanaki land in Richmond, Maine. They specialize in plants that both enhance biodiversity and create resilient, beautiful gardens.

They are currently part of the MOFGA Journeyperson program and use thoughtful organic practices to grow native perennials, native trees, shrubs, annuals/biennials, native grasses, permaculture-popular plants, some ornamentals, as well as fruit and nut trees. They offer consultation and design as well.

Seed for native perennials or shrubs are sourced locally from Wild Seed Project, Edgewood Nursery or collected by themselves when possible but also from further afield from Prairie Moon when needed.
[email protected] | marpanursery.com | Richmond, ME

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5 Star Nursery
5 Star Nursery and Orchard, a MOFGA certified organic heirloom orchard and native plant nursery, is owned and operated by Molly DellaRoman and Tim Skillin.

They are located on the coast of Brooklin, ME. “Any organic orchardist will tell you that growing fruit without chemical pesticides is an upward battle.” So they look to other means to help their fruit flourish, including planting an abundance of many different species of native plants.

The majority (90%) of their nursery is grown from seed collected at the orchard and the surrounding thickets and woodlands. They have a reciprocal relationship with the Blue Hill Heritage Trust and the Island Heritage Trust to sustainably collect seed on their properties in exchange for providing plants for their various restoration projects.

Seeds that they don’t currently have a local source for are purchased from other native plant nurseries and commercial seed providers. They go beyond the requirements of organic certification, never spraying any insecticides or fungicides on our plants. They use a peat-free potting soil mix and use pots made from recycled plastic.

They can be found at their farm stand, local farmers markets, plant sales.
[email protected] | (207) 359-4960 | 5starorchard.com | Brooklin ME

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Flora Maine Native Plants + Gardens
Caitlin Kelty-Huber has created this newest native plant nursery in the Midcoast region, specializing in plug size plants, grown from ethically-harvested, local ecotype seeds. “We also carry a limited number of species native to the East coast, but not Maine. We also offer native plant garden design and installation, transforming yards to vibrant spaces that support ecosystems, biodiversity, and create beauty. 

Most important to us is that we are collecting the vast majority of the seeds we use ourselves from the Midcoast area. Otherwise, we use seed from the Wild Seed Project. Also, while we are focusing on growing plugs, we’ll be selling plants in a combination of 2.5” plugs, 3’’x 3” and 3”x 5” pots, and 3” deep 6 packs. We use all natural products, nearly all of which are certified organic.”

[email protected] | (207) 205-8975 (text preferred) | Flora Maine Native Plants | Waldoboro, ME