Powered by Volunteers: Sycamore’s Native Plant Nursery

by Ella Scheper, Land Stewardship Assistant

When I first arrived at Sycamore Land Trust in January of 2023, the native plant nursery consisted of a collection of plants resting in either a rock wall garden or a small corner of space by the garden shed. My first day in the nursery was a cold morning with the nursery’s volunteer group. Despite the frosty temperatures, the volunteers worked hard at our task and chatted happily with each other the entire time. They welcomed me into their ranks, sharing their knowledge of the plants we were working with and of the birds calling out above us.

Sam Shine Foundation Preserve, Photo by Saige Sentell

During my time working in the nursery, I have seen the addition of a fenced-in shade nursery, the expansion of the rock wall garden and the sedge corner, and the installation of several seed collection plots. I’ve also seen the number of plants sold at the annual native plant sale grow and dozens of new species added to our inventories. Just as the nursery itself has grown during my time here, so has my admiration for the remarkable team of volunteers that make the nursery possible.

Sycamore’s Native Plant Nursery has a hard-working group of volunteers who meet once a week to help with every aspect of nursery maintenance. With each season, the group aids in a different step of the plant cultivation process. For the past two months, they have helped prepare for the annual plant sale by cleaning and labeling over three thousand plants. In the summertime, they transplant seedlings to pots, delicately handling the fragile plants and their vulnerable root systems. Each summer, several of the volunteers sign up for a watering rotation, donating about an hour out of their days once a week for the entire season. In the fall, the volunteers, led by volunteer nursery manager Bill Daniels, go out and collect native seed from various Sycamore preserves. When winter sets in, the volunteers clean, scarify, and then sow the seeds they collected into trays of soil.

In 2021, volunteers and staff celebrated potting up 7,000 native plants during the first summer of Sycamore’s Native Plant Nursery. This year, we surpassed 30,000 native plants grown for habitat restoration, and counting. Mary Welz

The nursery volunteer group also assists Sycamore’s stewardship team with restoration plantings on our preserves. Plants grown in the nursery from seeds collected on our preserves are planted right back into the ground at new restoration sites. The plants, in conjunction with other habitat restoration efforts from the stewardship team, help to restore the native plant community. Planting days in the preserves can be long and muddy occasions, but the nursery volunteers can always be counted on to show up with positive attitudes and boots to get the job done.

The Native Plant Nursery’s Spring Plant Sale in June raised over $15,000 to support the nursery and habitat restoration on Sycamore preserves. Kirby Hammel

None of the aforementioned success of the Native Plant Nursery would have been possible without the incredible volunteer nursery manager Kate Mulligan. Kate volunteers a tremendous amount of her time to the nursery and has spent countless hours seeing to the needs of the plants and leading the volunteers in their various projects. She keeps detailed inventories of each plant growing in the nursery, including their cultural requirements, seed source, and native range. Kate is always thinking about the nursery’s next steps, whether that be by preparing for the next volunteer day, clearing out space for next year’s plants, or planting plots on the property to ensure easy seed collection for years to come.

Volunteer nursery co-manager Kate Mulligan and nursery intern Ella Scheper at the 2025 Native Plant Sale. Chris Fox

My time working in the nursery was spent working with Kate. She taught me to care for every aspect of the nursery, not just the plants in pots. When we put up fences, she showed me how high off the ground to make them to allow easy passage for eastern box turtles. When we watered the nursery, she also made sure the bird bath was refilled with fresh water. When we clean up the beds around the nursery in the winter, Kate makes sure to store the dead stalks of plants until springtime to avoid disturbing the insects hibernating in them. Kate brings an unmatched level of care and attention to detail when working with nature that I will always strive to emulate.

As my time with the nursery comes to a close, I look back in awe at how much progress has been made. Thanks to the efforts of our amazing volunteers, the nursery operates like a well-oiled machine, pumping out thousands of healthy native plants each year. I am so incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to work with Kate, Bill, and the rest of the Native Plant Nursery volunteers. Their time and effort continue to support Sycamore Land Trust’s restoration of native ecosystems, one plant at a time.

Volunteer nursery co-manager Bill Daniels believes in the power of local genotypes

A majority of the plants grown in the nursery are grown from seeds collected by our volunteers in an effort to prioritize local genotype plants. Plants that are grown from seeds collected near to where they will be later planted are considered to be of a local genotype. This means that they come from a lineage that is specially adapted to the local ecosystem and maximizes their success in the wild. Since the primary purpose of Sycamore’s native plant nursery is to grow plants for our restoration projects, it is crucial that the plants thrive once we plant them in our preserves.

Nursery co-manager Bill Daniels leads this effort by locating local genotype sources for many of our target species. This is no small task. Before leading a volunteer group on a seed collection field day, Bill must first locate a source of seeds and visit the source to confirm the identity of the plants and their origins. After confirming the population, Bill also has to ensure that he takes the volunteers out during the small window of time when the seeds are ripe for harvest. Bill has also taken the lead on installing seed collection plots near the nursery, where local genotype plants are grown in the ground and their seeds can be easily harvested on site. This decreases the amount of travel time required and allows the nursery to grow a wider variety of local genotype plants.

This article is from the Summer 2025 issue of The Twig, “The Volunteer Issue.” Read the issue at sycamorelandtrust.org/twig.