Yep, some nurseries do gouge on the native stuff. I either grow my own or go to local native plant sales, where you can get a plug for around $2.50-$3.25. April

It is laughable. Last year, my brother saw Virginia Creeper in a 3-gallon pot being sold for $30.

I have no problem with the price, remember, the grower got only fraction of that. I'm just glad not to see purple loosestrife and Jap. honeysuckle.
I am slowly being surrounded by residential development which included the "MacMansions" that we hear so much about. Most of these properties have absolutely nothing original on the subdivision. Not even skunk cabbage.
Rain Gardens for schoolyard habitat are increasingly popular which is a good sign. They are often starting from scratch. They simply have no other source of plants. You're fortunate to be able to collect plants from your own property but not everybody has that option.

As a person whose eventual goal is to start a native plant nursery (well, I've started, but am a long way from selling anything yet), I have to say that those prices may not be astonishing. For starters, a reputable nursery didn't go dig them out of the wild. It takes time and money to grow a plant to commercial size. First, you have to ethically get a source for your plant, and then propagate commercial quantities of it. That might take years. All the electricity, water, fertilizer, pots, soil, land you're growing it on, equipment, labor, failed trials, record-keeping,...the list goes on and on...needs to be paid for by the end result. I'm retired, living on a livable pension. I won't be trying to make a living on this, just not go broke. For me, it's a labor of love, not a way of making a living; I just want to encourage use of natives. And by the time I get around to selling plants, you might find my prices laughable, but I would be surprised if I was making a profit.

Vis a Vis school water gardens....You can trade for seed here on the seed trading forum or winter sowing forum, or the native plant exchange towards the Fall. Then winter sow it. After it sprouts the following Spring, either pot them up individually and let them get a little bigger, or put them out in the ground immediately.

I have about 50 native plant seedlings to get into the ground, representing around 15-20 native species. All from trades. It cost me about $2.40 in postage to get the seed. Another $2.60 for the bag of topsoil and humus, and the pots I got for free from friends or a local nursery who were throwing them away. These 50 or so plants cost me 10 cents apiece, or less.

Obtaining native plants doesn't have to be expensive. They're expensive now because they're "in." You couldn't give them away 10 years ago, or they were just called weeds. April

I hear you all loud and clear. I'm sure the demands of nurserywork are rigorous and the profit margins not exorbitant. My interest in using native plants arises in part precisely from the fact that these plants have adapted to my local environemt, and they do very well (usually) wherever I put them.

I just wonder who, in Berkshire county, in going to pay $15 for a fern that is rampant here. I mean, carpets of them everywhere. Or $8 for a wildflower that is prolific to the extreme.

The average house lot in my town is 4 acres. I could spend years prowling around my land for interesting plants, and friends and relatives are always overloaded and givin' 'em away - one aunt nearby, after 50 years at the same address, is a frequent supplier.

I suppose I will count my blessings, again, that I no longer live in an area where most everything natural has been stripped away and replaced by sculptured shrubs from Walmart.

Amen.

Well the truth is if no one will buy them, then the growers and distributors will stop dealing in them. Simple economics, no market, no product. PF