Restoration Planting and Local Ecotype Stock

A restoration planting is usually judged by the number of plants that went in on the day, and should be judged by the number alive three years later. The one idea that matters most is that survival is decided before planting, by the site preparation and the seed origin, and after it, by two or three years of weeding and checking.

This page covers the work of a restoration planting: preparing the site, matching local ecotype stock to it, planting small stock well, and the follow-up that turns a planting into a stand. It draws on the restoration bodies named below and on HortOS, a free directory of American wholesale plant growers with their published availability and trade prices. Sourcing native plants for a restoration or revegetation project covers ordering and contract growing in detail.

Quick facts

Prepare first	Control weeds across the whole site for months before planting. Planting into weeds is planting into competition the young plants rarely win.
Local ecotype	Seed or cuttings from the same district or seed zone, from many parent plants, give stock suited to the site and a broad genetic base.
Plant small	Most restoration is planted as plugs, seedlings and #1 containers, which establish well and are cheap enough to plant densely.
Plant into moist soil	Plant in fall or early spring, when the soil is moist and will stay moist.
Follow up	Two or three years of weeding, guard checks and infill planting decide how many plants survive.
Count survival	Simple counts in marked plots at three, twelve and twenty-four months tell the group what worked.

Preparing the site

Site preparation is the part volunteers least enjoy and the part that matters most. Weeds and grasses take the water and light young plants need, and a site planted into them loses most of its plants in the first dry spell. Most groups control weeds across the whole area for one or more seasons before planting, by spraying, scalping, mulching or grazing, as the site and its managers allow.

Fence out stock and, where browsing animals are a problem, plan guards for every plant. Mark the planting zones on a map: wet margins, slopes and dry ridges need different species. Check the site with the landowner and the agency that manages the waterway or reserve before any work starts, since many restoration sites have their own rules.

Local ecotype stock

The USDA Forest Service explains why native plant material matters for vegetation projects. The National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration, written in 2015 by the Plant Conservation Alliance Federal Committee, set out to make native seed of the right origin easier to get. Many states and regions now describe seed zones, the areas within which a species' seed is expected to perform alike.

In practice a group asks three things of a grower. Where was the seed collected, how many parent plants was it collected from, and can the grower grow the group's own collected seed. A grower that keeps batch records answers all three. The answers belong in the order and in the project's records.

Planting small stock well

• Plant moist. Water the trays well the day before, and plant into moist soil. Dry roots in dry soil rarely recover.
• Firm, not packed. Set the plant at the depth it grew, firm the soil around it with a heel or hand, and leave a small hollow to catch rain.
• Guard and stake. Fit guards straight after planting where browsing animals or wind are a problem, and stake them firmly.
• Mulch where it helps. A mulch mat or a ring of mulch holds moisture and slows weeds on dry sites.
• Record as you go. Note what was planted in each zone, from which batch, so survival counts can be traced back to the stock.

The table lists species of the kind restoration projects plant, with how many growers listed each on HortOS on 25 October 2026. It shows which species are easy to buy in numbers, not which suit a site, which is the ecologist's call. Prices are medians across growers' current trade lists on HortOS on 25 October 2026: one price per grower, ex tax, freight not included, with the number of growers pricing each size in brackets. Grower counts are the growers listing each plant on HortOS on 25 October 2026, in any size. A median needs three growers pricing a size. Anyone can see the prices on HortOS, and only the trade can order.

Of the species in the table, bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) had the most growers listing it, 368, and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) the fewest of those shown, 35. A species few growers list is a species to grow to order, booked a season or a year ahead. Bottomland hardwood reforestation goes further for one kind of site.

Ordering and timing the stock

Restoration stock is grown to a timetable, and most of that timetable runs before the planting day is set. Seed has to be collected when it ripens, cleaned and stored, and sown months before planting. Tubes grown from it usually need a full growing season in the nursery before they are large enough to plant out. For a large project that means agreeing the species, the numbers and the seed source with a grower a year or more ahead.

Put the order in writing: the species, the numbers, the pot size, the seed source and how many parent plants it came from, the delivery week and the site. Ask the grower to hold the trays at the nursery until the planting week, and to say early if a species fails to germinate so a substitute can be agreed. Order a few more than the plan needs, for infill planting in the next season.

The first three years

A planting becomes a stand in its first three years. Weed around each plant two or three times in the first growing season and less often after that. Check guards after storms and remove them when the plants are well above them. Water in a dry first summer if the site allows it. Plant gaps with the species that survived best, from the same seed source, in the next planting season.

Set up a few marked plots of the same size across the site, count the living plants in each at three, twelve and twenty-four months, and photograph them from the same point each time. The counts tell the group which species, sizes and methods to use again, and funders increasingly ask for them.

What to watch for

• Planting into weeds. A planting into grass or weeds loses most of its plants. Prepare the whole site first.
• Native read as local. A native species from far away may not suit the site. Ask for the seed source in writing.
• Big plants for a quick result. Larger stock costs more and does not establish faster on a prepared site. Plant small and dense.
• No follow-up. A planting with no weeding or guard checks after the day loses plants every month. Book the follow-up before the planting.
• No records. Without counts the group cannot show a funder what worked or learn from what failed.

Getting it right

1. Agree the site, the zones and the rules with the landowner and the managing agency.
2. Prepare the whole site for one or more seasons, and fence out stock.
3. Settle the species and the seed source rule with an ecologist, and order or contract-grow the stock in time.
4. Plant plugs, seedlings and #1 containers into moist soil in the planting season, with guards where needed.
5. Weed and check guards for two or three years, and infill gaps from the same seed source.
6. Count survival in marked plots at three, twelve and twenty-four months, and keep the records.

A word of caution

Which species suit a site, and the seed source rule, are the ecologist's and the managing agency's to decide. The counts are what HortOS printed on 25 October 2026, and the live pages change as growers update their lists. A grower's list cannot show provenance or growing practice, and the grower's written answer is the record.

Sources

• USDA Forest Service, Native Plant Materials: native plant material for projects.
• Bureau of Land Management, National Seed Strategy: native seed for restoration.
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, native plant database: native plants by state and use.
• Native Plant Trust: native plants of New England.