Article by Jon M. Casey

KIRKWOOD, PA "We go to great lengths to provide our customers with the best native plants they can find," says Jim MacKenzie, President and Operations Manager of Octoraro Native Plant Nursery. "I believe that's why we have grown to be one of the largest native plant nurseries in the region in the last fifteen years. We offer the heartiest plants available."

"We specialize in trees and shrubs and we do most of our work by hand," says MacKenzie. "While that might seem to be somewhat antiquated, it offers us the ability to care for our plants more effectively. Each plant gets personal attention. We have about thirty employees, three full-time, one part-time, two part-time drivers, and approximately two dozen Amish women."

MacKenzie says that he is in a unique position. "We have developed a close working relationship with the surrounding Lancaster County Amish population," he says. "We are able to provide jobs for more than two dozen Amish, mostly single women who are looking for income away from the farm. The young women come from a strong agricultural background and they understand plants. They also have a strong work ethic and they work well with these kinds of plants," he says.

"Our drivers transport the workers to and from their homes every day," he explains. "We have made accommodations for them in our production areas as well, so that their working conditions match their capabilities. Potting tables are at heights that are most comfortable for them. We want them to enjoy their work and to do it in a safe way. We have a symbiotic relationship with them here at the nursery and we work well together."

Container Grown Plants
MacKenzie says that Octoraro made the decision to offer plant stock in containers from the beginning. "We found that we could offer customers better results when they transplant our seedlings and plants if the young stock was grown in containers," says MacKenzie. "We do not offer bare root plants and we determined that we did not want to offer balled and burlapped (B&B) plants as well. We chose to focus on producing high quality, container-grown plants that will get off to a great start when they are transplanted. We believe we have accomplished that."

"Our container seedlings are grown in SP4 containers and sold in flats of 25 plants," says MacKenzie, pulling out a hearty, 2 year old Acer saccharum or sugar maple to show us the root system. "We prefer the larger 9-inch long by 3-inch square containers because there is so much more root system available with the larger size. We like the open-bottomed air pruning containers," he says. "We grow them on elevated benches so that they get good circulation underneath and can take full advantage of the air pruning process."

MacKenzie says that they transplant varieties that they want to grow to a larger size into an in-ground Cellu-gro™ unit where they are nurtured until they are transplanted into #7 containers and placed in Octoraro's Pot-in-Pot section for further growth. We have found that growing the plants in below ground systems promotes better root growth. The root zone are more temperature moderate depending on the season and mimic conditions similar to those when they will be planted."

"There is an ever-increasing demand for larger native plants," says MacKenzie. "That is why we have grown in this department. Parks, commercial applications, and other places where there is considerable public exposure, are often looking for older plants that are larger."

Watering System
"We take great pride in our watering system," says MacKenzie. "We rely on drip irrigation wherever possible. We use filtered ground water and water that we draw from the Octoraro Creek nearby. By using drip irrigation and spray stakes to water our plants, the water goes to the roots where it is best utilized. It does not run off or evaporate before it gets to the root zone. We only use the amount of water that the plants need. Its good management and stewardship of the water supply."


Living Laboratory and Showroom
MacKenzie is especially excited about what he affectionately calls "Lucy's Playground," referring to twelve acres of floodplain that has been turned into a native plant habitat where his Chocolate Labrador Retriever enjoys coming to frolic and play. "We use this area as a display area for what can be done to land that is prone to flooding when there are heavy rains and the creek overflows its banks," he says. "This area was once a tiled and drained cornfield that was often still to wet to farm. We created this as part of a stream restoration project in 2000, and today it thrives."

"With this buffer that we've created, we are able to become much better stewards of the land, and at the same time, we can use this area as a 'showroom' and a classroom to equip others on how to use native plants in various circumstances," says MacKenzie. "In this case, when rain water flows down from the upper fields and the area where the main part of the nursery is located, this buffer keeps the runoff from going directly into the Octoraro Creek," he says, pointing to the hillside that joins the two areas. "We are pleased to practice what we preach and we are happy that our wetland 'water quality facility' has all finally come together. Now we have a habitat where we can find Herons and Egrets. We even have seen two Bald Eagles down here from time to time."

Customers and the Future of Native Plants
MacKenzie, a Penn State graduate of the Landscape Architecture program says that his business continues to grow larger every year. At first, their customers tended to be those who were required to plant native plants because of environmental compliance. "The mix was definitely more regulatory-driven than it is today," he says. "Today, upwards of 65% of our customers buy native plants for water quality restoration and conservation projects because they believe it's the right thing to do. We also find our plants going into federal, state, and local governmental projects; State DOT contracts, non-profit organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and golf courses. The customer base continues to grow."

"We also continue to see a greater need for native plants in the agricultural arena," says MacKenzie, who serves on the Board of Directors and Government Relations Committee of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nurseryman's Association. "In 2003 I was appointed to serve on the Statewide Water Resources Committee," he says. "We are in the process of creating a new state-wide water plan by 2008. Everyone is taking a closer look at how we can protect our state's water resources, including the farming community."

"With the passage of Pennsylvania's Growing Greener II and the Federal CREP program, we will continue to see more interest in riparian buffers and wetland mitigation projects," says MacKenzie. "Here at Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, we sell over 50 varieties of trees and shrubs. We will sell more than 250,000 container seedlings annually for riparian buffers and reforestation projects. We also sell varieties grown at a location in southern New Jersey for projects that require salt-tolerant plants of the coastal plain."

MacKenzie says that they specialize in trees and shrubs because the demand for them has grown so much in recent years. "Octoraro has begun to work with a nearby native plant nursery that specializes in herbaceous plants and grasses," says MacKenzie. "A friend of ours, James Dean Brown, started New Moon Nursery in 2003. Since his specialty is herbaceous plants and grasses, we decided to refer our customers to him for those products."

"We had been raising both kinds of plants, but the demand for our shrubs and trees became so great that we welcomed the opportunity to provide New Moon Nursery with our herbaceous and grass business. Today, we have a very close working relationship with New Moon Nursery," he says.