ReRooted
As human activities and invasive species threaten the native ecosystems we rely on for survival, there’s a powerful way to help: adding more native plants to our surroundings. By doing so, we can help maintain functioning natural ecosystems by lessening the myriad threats facing the plants that define our home.
But native plants can be hard to find at big-box stores and traditional garden centers. Inventory tends to focus on non-native ornamental plants or, at best, a handful of native cultivars. We wanted to find a way to increase the supply of native plants in our region—and the number of community members with the know-how to grow them.
At the CGC, plants have been at the core of our work throughout our 80-plus-year history. While other conservation organizations are fighting to protect land, air and water, we're dedicated to plants and trees: protecting and restoring rare and native species and keeping common ones common. So growing our own native plants was a natural fit!
Enter: ReRooted
ReRooted is a unique seed-saving and plant propagation program that focuses on straight species native plants indigenous to southwest Ohio. We strive to source local genotypes to ensure the plants we grow are adapted for our region’s specific climate and soils. Through ReRooted, we produce thousands of native plants each year that go out into our local community: to homeowners, to school and community gardens, to restoration projects.
ReRooted isn’t just about producing plants, though. The program also gives students, volunteers and gardeners the chance to learn about and grow native plants—and, in doing so, equips them with the knowledge, skills and eventually plant material to restore natural areas or begin transitioning their yard or garden to more sustainable practices.
How We Grow the Plants
All our ReRooted plants are grown on our grounds at Hauck Botanic Gardens. We start the seeds in our Green Learning Station under grow lights. Once they’re established, we transplant them into larger pots in our hoop house, where they live for the season.
We cannot run this program alone. Nor do we want to! Hands-on education isn’t just nice to have. It’s necessary if we hope to see more of us gaining the simple skills required to propagate native plants—and using them to repopulate our public and private spaces. From seed collecting and processing to sowing and transplanting to pruning, volunteers play a crucial role in ReRooted, learning to care for native plants along the way. We even have a team of knowledgeable volunteers that helps us sell the plants we grow during our Fall Native Plant Festival.
Where the Plants End Up
One of our main motivations for starting ReRooted was to get more native plants out into our local Cincinnati region. From small urban plots to large suburban landscapes, we need more native plants in public and private lands of all shapes and sizes! We love getting to play a part in getting them out there.
Our CGC-grown native plants find their way out into the community in several different ways. We sell them during our two annual plant festivals (GrowFest in May and the Fall Native Plant Festival in September). We provide free garden kits to community and school gardens that are interested in building pollinator habitats that are publicly accessible. Many of our plants also end up in restoration projects on our grounds and elsewhere.
Get Involved!
If you want to be part of our ReRooted efforts, the best way to stay in the loop is by signing up as a volunteer on our Horticulture Team. We’ll let you know when we have opportunities to share!