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2024: New Plants, New Places!

8 New Plants & 3 new Garden Kits for 2024,

Plus Plant Sales at 4 new locations!



New Plants on the Website Now

We love fun plants and we just can't stop adding new things to the greenhouse! (To be honest, we haven't really tried. What fun it be to always grow the same stuff everyone else grows?) Here are eight new plants we will have for 2024, all native to the U.P. and available for pre-order now. Read all about them by following the links:


  1. Lanceleaf Figwort: a subtle beauty to us, a font of nectar to pollinators and hummingbirds.

  2. Scarlet Indian Paintbrush: more hummingbird plants! This biennial is too pretty to miss.

  3. Northern Pitcher Plant: a carnivorous native plant for bogs, shores, and ponds? Now that's different!

  4. Bog Goldenrod: one of the prettiest goldenrods you ever did see. Perfect for pollinators.

  5. American Fly Honeysuckle: this native shrub blooms early for woodland bees, returning hummingbirds, and eyesore Yoopers ready for some landscape color after a long winter.

  6. Tall Goldenrod: an excellent bird plant providing summer caterpillars for nestlings, fall seeds, and winter larvae tucked into rounded stems as winter bird food for chickadees and woodpeckers. (Blog post Here)

  7. Winterberry: brilliant color in a winter landscape, and a new addition to our ever-popular shrub lineup.

  8. Mad Dog Skullcap: First of all, this has the best plant name ever. Secondly, it loves the shade and has tiny fairy flowers beloved by the tiny bees that never get any love.






New Garden Kits

Garden kits are predesigned flats of plants which make getting started or expanding your native plantings easy and economical. They are designed for certain habitats (wet, sandy, lakeshore, shade...) or to support certain goals (showy plants, short plants, bird habitat, butterflies, honey bees...). Garden kits even come pre-arranged in the tray with tall plants in the back and short, showy plants front and center - you just have to plunk them into your spot. Each kit contains 38 pesticide-free plants native to Michigan. If your space is too large to be filled with one kit, you can get a second kit of the same type at a discount when you order on the website.


Garden kits are one of our most popular items. I've even seen people grab them out from in front of each other at markets! If you see a garden kit you like at a sale, I suggest following the rules of chess and keeping your hand on your prize while you make your decision. But, one of the things we will be doing differently this year is bringing more kits to plant sales and markets. We have even added three new garden kits to our lineup! These kits are currently only available by pre-ordering through our plant sales listed in the next section. Meet the new kits:


  1. Hummingbird Garden Kit: Hummingbird favorites, only available through the June 1 Keweenaw Bird REC fundraiser. Click the link for details on how to order.

  2. Short Stuff Garden Kit: a collection of plants 2 feet tall or less, for when less is more.

  3. Nighttime Pollinator Kit: half of pollination happens at night. Make sure your pollinator garden keeps up on the action!



Plant Sales Near You


a feather flag in front of a table full of plants
Look for our flag!

Ready to add these fun new offerings to your space? You can order the 8 new plants, along with nearly 200 of their kin, at our website for pickup at the nursery. The new garden kits, however, are exclusive to certain plant sales.


The Hummingbird Kit is available through the Hancock sale, while the other two are available through many of the other Conservation District plant sales listed. Support your local Conservation District by ordering through their Native Plant Sale fundraiser. Some have their plant sales up and running. If they don't, or if they aren't offering this kit, give them a call and let them know you are interested. Most U.P. Conservation Districts will be doing a plant sale with us this year. 


While you've got them on the phone, ask about possible grants for pollinator gardens or greenhouses. Ask about site visits to help you identify your existing plants, determine what you should plant next, address erosion concerns, or look at your woodlot. You can even ask for help controlling invasive species on your property. Get to know your local Conservation District. Conservation Districts are the gateway to it all!  


You can also stalk our What's Happening page for Conservation District Native Plant Sale dates, details, and ordering links (I don't have everything on the calendar yet. Coming soon!). As I was writing this post, our Marquette Farmer's Market dates got approved, so now I can add them to the lineup. Please note we are only able to attend one Marquette Farmer's Market date a month. We will be adding other area markets as we are able.


*NEW plant sales in our lineup! (Hancock is not completely new, but it's the first time we are doing an on-site sale there)

** Chatham will be staffed by Vern Stephens, Designs By Nature Laingsburg.

*** Grand Marais will be staffed by the Alger Conservation District.


Mama Mia! That's a lot of plant sales! Which is good, because we have a lot of plants. Beginning in July, we plan on offering a periodic Hot and Ready from the Nursery email, detailing quarts and plug flats we have in quantity and ready for immediate pickup. If you would like to receive such emails, please provide your contact info:


Thanks for reading, and as always, thanks for planting native plants. Your plants will be ready soon!


seedlings in a plastic tray in a greenhouse
Pale Purple Coneflower on its way!

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