Jim MacKenzie - Octoraro Native Plant Nursery

by Jon M. Casey, Country Folks Grower Newspaper

“We go to great lengths to provide our customers with the best native woody 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 some of the heartiest plants available.”

“We specialize in trees and shrubs and do most of our production work by hand,” says MacKenzie. “While that might seem somewhat antiquated, it offers us the ability to care for our plants more effectively. Each plant gets personal attention. We have four full-time employees, three seasonal part- time employees, two part-time drivers, and approximately two dozen Amish women who deliver that personal care every day.”

MacKenzie says that he is in a unique position.

“We have developed a close personal and working relationship with the surrounding Lancaster County Amish population,” he says. “We are able to provide jobs for more than two dozen Amish women who are looking to help support their families with 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 our plants,” he says.

“Our Nursery Manager, Diane Bennett has been here since the founding of Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, and she has developed a wonderful relationship with all our Amish friends and coworkers.”

“Our driver transports 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. Worktables are at heights that emphasize safety and comfort for them. We want them to enjoy their work and to do it in a safe way. They aren’t asked to do any heavy lifting without assistance from others. We have a symbiotic relationship with them here at the nursery and we work well together.”

Container Grown Plants

MacKenzie says that he and his partner and company founder, Mark Gutshall made the decision to offer plant stock in containers exclusively, 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 determined that we did not want to offer balled and burlapped 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, two year old plant 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 so that we can take full advantage of air pruning.”

MacKenzie says they transplant their trees 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 roots are protected from temperature extremes and function more like they will when they are planted.”

“There is an ever-increasing demand for larger native plants,” says MacKenzie. “That is why we have grown in this department. Commercial applications, parks, and other places where there is considerable public exposure, are often looking for older plants that are larger and create more initial visual impact.”

Irrigation System

“We take great pride in our irrigation systems,” says MacKenzie. “We rely on drip irrigation wherever possible. We use both ground water and filtered surface water that we draw from the Octoraro Creek nearby. By using drip irrigation and spray stakes, the water goes directly to the roots where it is needed. We only use the amount of water that the plants need. Its good management and stewardship of the water supply.”

“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 for Pennsylvania by 2008. Everyone is taking a closer look at how we can conserve and enhance our state’s water resources, including the farming community.”

Living Laboratory and “Showroom”

MacKenzie is especially excited about what he affectionately calls “Lucy’s Playground,” referring to ten 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 to show others 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. We created

this as part of a stream restoration project in 2000, and today it thrives.”

“With the riparian buffer and wetlands 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 wood ducks, herons and osprey. We even have seen two bald eagles down here from time to time.”

Customers and the Future of Native Plants

MacKenzie says they now specialize exclusively in trees and shrubs because the demand for them has grown so much in recent years.

“Here at Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, we sell about 60 to 70 species of trees and shrubs. We also offer salttolerant plants for the Costal plain regions that are grown at a location in southern New Jersey.”

“We continue to see a greater need for native plants in the agricultural arena with the expansion of the federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP),” says MacKenzie, who serves on the Board of Directors and Government Relations Committee of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nurseryman’s Association.

MacKenzie, a Penn State graduate of the Landscape Architecture program says that the business has continued to grow and diversify every year.

“We find our plants going into federal, state, and local governmental projects; state DOT (Department of Transportation) contracts, non-profit organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and watershed organizations, and golf courses.”

At first, his customers tended to be those who were being required to plant native plants because of issues relating to environmental compliance.

“The mix was definitely more regulatory-driven than it is today,” he says. “Today, upwards of 65 percent of our end users buy native plants for water quality restoration projects because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Our customer base continues to grow.”

For more information native woody plants, contact Octoraro Native Plant Nursery contact them at 717-529-3160 and for other non-woody and aquatic native plants types, visit the New Moon Nursery.

Reprinted with permission from Country Folks Grower Newspaper

More Information on Native Plants

Landscaping with Native Plants in Pennsylvania - DCNR

Green Landscaping with Native Plants - EPA

PaED: Habitat Solutions, Inc. Restoring Native Plants, Wetlands & Streams

Contact the Master Gardeners, Penn State Extension Office in Your County

2006 Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Conference Feb. 7-9

2006 Millersville Native Plant Conference June 1-3

Pennsylvania Native Plant Society

Native Plant Center – Audubon Society of Western PA

Gardening Goes Native in PA, Penn State Research

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

Wildlands Conservancy Native Plant Initiative

Ernst Conservation Seeds

Links to Other Resources

1/13/2006