Beech trees often retain their dead leaves all through winter. Photo credit Cody Williams.
Resources
Homeowner Resources
Native Plants
- An excellent list of native keystone plants created by Norwich Conservation Commission member Lynwood Andrews
- The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a great resource of native plants in Vermont
- Vermont Invasives has great lists of native alternatives to common invasives and native perennials and shrubs
- The Nature Conservancy also has a great list of native plants
- Cornell Botanic Gardens presentation on growing native plants from seed
- Cathy Neal has some great information about establishing wildflower meadows and sourcing native seed from the UNH Extension
- A resource from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station ranking landscape plants by their deer resistance
- Some local greenhouses and nurseries to acquire native plants:
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Champlain Valley Native Plant Restoration Nursery
PO Box 209
Poultney, VT, 05764
Wholesale. The mission of the nursery is to produce high quality container-grown seedlings from local seed stock for restoration and buffer plantings in the Champlain Valley.
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The Intervale Center
180 Intervale Road
Burlington, VT 05401
Founded in 2002 and is dedicated to growing native, locally sourced trees and shrubs for throughout Vermont. Our plants are grown in an ecologically sound manner without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. The Nursery works with landowners, farmers, watershed organizations and government agencies to restore and protect Vermont’s waters.
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Miller Hill Farm
2127 Rte. 73 E.
Sudbury, VT 05733
A Vermont Family Farm & Native Plant Nursery. A diverse farm and nursery specializing in Vermont native, locally sourced trees, shrubs, and perennials.
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Vermont Wetland Plant Supply
P.O. Box 153
Orwell, VT 05760
Wholesale. Grows plants for the stormwater and ecological restoration industries. In two greenhouses and 14 trench ponds in clay-plain soils at the southern end of Lake Champlain, we grow 97 native species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants for wetlands from Lake Champlain to the heights of the Green Mountains.
- These nurseries sell native and nonnative plants. Not all of their plants are native, and most of these nurseries do not specify which plants are native to Vermont on their websites. Choose wisely, ask a lot of questions, and don’t purchase anything you’re not sure of.
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E.C. Brown’s Nursery
3782 Route 113
Thetford Center, VT 05075
A “mom and pop” operations that supplies interesting and hardy plants to the Upper Valley. They grow, sell and plant an ever-increasing selection of native and nonnative ornamental trees, shrubs, evergreens and herbaceous perennials, with a focus on rarer and underused plants.
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Elmore Roots Nursery
631 Symonds Mill Rd.
Elmore VT, 05680
Nursery and Fruit Grove Displays. With our 30 years of testing what does well in our Northern Vermont climate (and what doesn’t), we only sell varieties that have proven themselves to do well here. We propagate many of our plants from our own orchards.
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River Berry Farm
191 Goose Pond Road
Fairfax, VT 05454
A family owned organic small fruit and vegetable farm operating on the Lamoille River Passionate about garden design for enhancing pollinator habitat and is determined to help gardeners make plant and design choices by providing information and plants at River Berry Farm.
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Vermont Wildflower Farm
3488 Ethan Allen Highway
Charlotte, VT, 05445
One of the largest seed companies in the U.S. Wildflower seed mixtures comes from within the United States with warehouses across the country. All Wildflower Seed products are open- pollinated, GMO and chemical free. Flower Bulbs, both spring and fall, are premium, high quality product imported directly from the most respected grower in Holland. Perennials, Berries, Ornamental Grasses, Bare roots, Rhizomes etc. come from a partnership with a U.S perennial grower in business for decades known for their outstanding quality.
- Native seed sources:
Forest Management
Deer
- The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s Landowner-Hunter Connection helps match landowners seeking help controlling deer damage with hunters. Landowners can enlist a Vermont hunter of your choice to reduce the effects of deer on your timber stands and help provide a local family with meat this winter. White-tailed deer browsing has profound implications for the structure and function of Vermont’s forested ecosystems, especially when deer densities are high. Regulated hunting is a wildlife management tool that effectively controls deer densities. This site offers landowners and sportsmen a way to connect and develop a relationship to help manage deer densities, reduce property damage and improve habitat.
- Hunting and trapping season dates on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Website
- Too Many Whitetails? from Northern Woodlands
- How Many Deer is Too Many?
- A great set of deer management resources from Hanover, NH
- Video of a talk about the overabundance of deer and impacts on forest understory from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies
- More than a quarter million white-tailed deer roam New Hampshire and Vermont. And two of them, a doe and her fawn, showed up recently on Erin Donahue's trail cam in East Thetford. "In the absence of predators," writes naturalist Ted Levin, "deer populations have grown exponentially and exceeded the fluted hills' carrying capacity. Too many deer have dire consequences on native plants and gardens and provide a moveable feast for blacklegged ticks. Does birth one to three adorably spotted fawns each spring…come November, there's a lot of venison around to feed our food-insecure neighbors. (via Daybreak)
- An interesting article in Hakai Magazine featuring an interview with researcher Tara Martin about the damage deer can do and the danger in not doing anything about it (via Daybreak)
Invasives
Living with Bears
Pollinators
Agrivoltaics and Ecovoltaics
Water Use