HOW TO GET PLANTS
All the Massachusetts nurseries listed below have agreed to provide flats plants for the curriculum.  If you are looking for a nursery to purchase plants from other states in New England, see the list of Native plant nurseries on the Grow Native webpage.  Prices and sizes of pots will vary among nurseries. No matter where you buy the plants we recommend that you avoid buying cultivars. 

What's a cultivar?
A cultivar is a plant that has been selectively bred for more saleable characteristics - darker leaves, different colored flowers etc. Most traditonal and "Big box" nurseries sell mainly or exclusively cultivars of wildflowers. Some cultivars attract the same insects and pollinators as their wild or "straight" seeds.  Some, however,  have characteristics that make them inedible to the insects that rely on them. Other cultivars have sterile seeds to promote more purchases of the plant. In other words, cultivars may not create the habitat that is the focus of the curriculum.  You can identify a plant as a cultivar because after the Latin identifier, there will be another name in single quotations such as 'Bravado' or 'Fireworks.'  Read more about cultivars here.

FREE PLANTS
Schools that are part of MA's environmental justice communities can apply for free flats of plants from any of the nurseries listed on this page.  To see if your district is an EJ community,  click here.   In order to receive free flat(s),  you must agree to use the curriculum, publicize the project on school social media or  newsletter and/or send a press release to your local newspaper about the project.  We would also appreciate the opportunity to take some pictures of the project in process.  We will make sure that all photos follow the privacy guidelines of your school. Apply for free plants on the Curriculum page.