Conservation Nursery: 2025 in Review

Above: Purple-disk Sunflower (Helianthus atrorubens), one of many native species produced last year by the Conservation Nursery, is nearly impossible to find in cultivation. Photo Credit: Drew Chaney

By David Bellangue
Conservation Nursery Manager, Piedmont Discovery Center

Greetings from the Piedmont Discovery Center’s new headquarters at Quarry Gardens in Schuyler, VA! I am David Bellangue, PDC Conservation Nursery Manager, bringing you an exciting update on nursery development in 2025. One of the biggest improvements was the relocation of the Conservation Nursery to its new home in Schuyler! With much more space to work with, we’re excited to get sowing and offer even more local ecotype (LET) plants for the general public and for our restorations! 

Last year, PDC staff sowed a total of 367 flats (100 flats more than in 2024 ), representing 117 species of native plants. The warm days of spring and steady early-season rainfall brought forth a wealth of new seedlings. With the 2025 planting season finished, we’re happy to report that the Conservation Nursery produced over 13,000 LET plants, accounting for 60% of all plants planted in 2025 by the Restoration Department, the highest level in the past 5 years. The sale of these plants generated $40,000 in gross revenue for PDC! 

Among our most notable successes is the increased availability of several native plants that are challenging to find in cultivation. These include common dittany (Cunila origanoides), a beautiful and rugged mint family member found throughout Eastern North America in dry woodlands, savannas, and barrens; tall thoroughwort (Eupatorium altissimum), an uncommon thoroughwort of nutrient-rich prairies, savannas, and woodlands; arrowfeather grass (Aristida purpurascens), a small native grass at home in dry sunny habitats throughout the Piedmont; and eastern beartongue (Penstemon laevigatus), a local native alternative to the Midwestern foxglove beardtongue (P. digitalis).    

However, this year also had its set of challenges. Some species sown germinated at levels far below what was expected. This was frustrating, but provided a valuable learning experience. The native bush-clovers (Lespedeza spp.) proved troublesome, with only a few seeds germinating among the species planted (L. capitata, L. hirta, L. procumbens, L. violacea, and L. virginica). Based on latent germination throughout the growing season, the problem seemed to be insufficient scarification of the seeds.  We will be implementing a new scarification technique this growing season. Other challenging species from last year included woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus), a rhizomatous species that can produce non-viable seeds if genetically distinct plants are not available for cross-pollination. In 2026, we plan to gather seeds from a large population of woodland sunflower. We hope to find viable seeds as this is one of our most in-demand species. 

One of the most curious cases of low germination was poverty oatgrass (Danthonia spicata), a common species ubiquitous in dry open areas and compact soils throughout the state. By all accounts, it should be easy to germinate, but all attempts at the nursery have shown low germination. Staff have observed some germination occurring in the fall, so this year we’ll experiment with a fall sowing to crack the code with this common and essential cool-season grass. 

Another exciting area of ongoing experimentation involves “savanna sod”. We are developing a restoration technique that begins with thickly sowing a mix of plant species into a prepared tray to produce a mat of native vegetation. This is done to increase plant density to levels observed in remnant grassland communities. Ten “savanna sod” trays were sown with a seed mix based on a nutrient-rich basic woodland plant community. When the trays were ready, they were planted at Quarry Gardens as a further proof-of-concept. We look forward to watching this planting mature, and hope to refine the savanna sod concept for wider use.

With the nursery move complete, our thoughts turn eagerly to the year ahead. We plan to sow 400 flats representing 104 species in 2026, and while this is a slight decrease in species diversity, we seek to increase the production of our most in-demand species. These 104 species will include some PDC firsts, including wild sweet potato (Ipomoea pandurata), American alumroot (Heuchera americana), Carolina wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis), and sharp-leaved goldenrod (Solidago arguta). We will also attempt to grow a supply of the savanna staple, post oak (Quercus stellata). It will be another productive year at the Conservation Nursery and we look forward to sharing our progress with the wider world!