We have just bought a new house in Seacrest (Walton County). are there any nurseries in the area that sell native plants? Our lot is small, so I want mostly natives.

If an internet search doesn't bring anything up, try contacting your local conservation district or county folk. They should be able to point you in the right direction. Otherwise, you can just do research yourself - search 'native plants Walton County' and then arm yourself with a potential list to scour your local nurseries. I am finding more nurseries are adding in 'native' sections and/or are selling natives along with cultivated plants. I also am not opposed to what I refer to as 'near natives' - a cultivar of a native, often prettier and I assume the bugs/wildlife will benefit from them as well. Be sure to also provide water and suitable cover if you are wanting to encourage wildlife into your yard. You might also want to check our the Gardening for Wildlife forum for ideas. Best of luck, and welcome to NGA.

I found this one in DeFuniak Springs. Call before you go, apparently they are open only a few days a month or by appointment.

http://www.waltonoutdoors.com/...

https://www.facebook.com/7Pine...

Your County Extension service should certainly have information on where to get native plants. But, most good nurseries will have at least some, or a section dedicated to native plants.

Don't trust anything you see at the big box stores, though. They get a lot of plants that are not suited to the local environment.

Bonehead said:I also am not opposed to what I refer to as 'near natives' - a cultivar of a native, often prettier and I assume the bugs/wildlife will benefit from them as well.

Somewhere I read the term Nativar (Native Cultivar). I wouldn't say that I am particularly opposed to cultivars of natives. What bothers me is that many nurseries try to pass them off as native. To me if it was created by people and never existed in the wild then it can't be a native.

I agree. I went to a nursery with 'native' in its name, which lead me to believe they only sold natives, and they did have a lot of natives. But...when I got home and started really going through the plant tags, I found some cultivated plants. For example, I bought this mock orange

Virginal Mockorange (Philadelphus x virginalis 'Minnesota Snowflake')

A very pretty plant, but not the true native which is Philadelphus lewisii. I should have paid closer attention to the tags when buying, particularly since the nursery also threw in a Japanese maple as a quantity gift, which is clearly not native here. But, I'm not a purist and the 'near natives' fit in nicely with my real natives.