- Jacob Stidham - Director of Horticulture & Facilities
- Nursery
Growing plants for custom projects
When we developed the nursery at Yew Dell it was to produce plants for multiple purposes. We are doing just that! You have been able to see our annual displays explode in size and color with our ability to grow what we want. Our plant sale events are now 99% Yew Dell grown material and the same goes for the plants available on our Online Market. It has been a wonderful experience watching all of this unfold and now we are working on one of our biggest custom grow projects to date!
This month we will be receiving thousands of plants that will be grown here in our greenhouses that will be planted out in the late winter and early spring throughout the soon-to-be completed Castle Gardens Project. It was only a short time ago that we did not have the ability to grow at this capacity and would have had to search far and wide for the quantity of finished material that we need. 94 Spigelia marilandica*, 144 Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’*, 63 Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’*, and 112 Sporobolus heterolepis ‘Tara’? No problem! These will all be coming in from growers around the country in tiny plants, planted into larger containers, and then grown on this summer and fall. Of the 4,414 trees, shrubs, and perennials going into this project, we are hoping to grow 90% or more! The large trees and some of the shrub material will be sourced from our network of growers around the area.
Anyone else have a special project they need plants for? Have you driven down the road this week and drooled over someone’s 100’ hedge of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Anna Belle’? Are you chomping at the bit to plant a small pollinator garden and want to use 100-200 plants instead of seed? Let us know! We can certainly work with you on some custom grow projects. We like to think we are great at growing plants but things only grow so fast. These custom grow projects are best talked about months and months in advance, just like we are doing with the plants for the Castle Gardens Project.
We can’t be a grower of everything for everybody but we are super excited to stretch our wings, provide great plants to our community, and further support what we are doing here at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. Our mission statement says, “to spark a passion for plants and gardening through accessible science and inspiring beauty,” and we want to be here for you to keep that passion burning and the curiosity of what to do next always alive.
*Theodore Klein Plant Award winner. Learn more here.
