February 2023-Check out one of our projects!

From Problem to Paradise: Transforming your Backyard with Native Plants

Can you overcome your yard problems with native plants? And in doing so also build a beautiful, thriving oasis for both you and your local wildlife? Check out this installation feature on a 2022 project that achieved just that!

Click Here to Read More!

NST News!

Check out our new website!

We are excited to show you our new website full of information about our services and wonderful Minnesota native plants!

Click Here to Visit our NEW Website!

Come Work with Us!

We are looking for passionate and hard-working individuals to join us for both full-time seasonal and full-time permanent positions! Click below to learn more about our open positions!

Visit our Career Page Here to Apply!

Host Plant Highlight

90% of plant-eating insects use native plants to grow and survive. Without their native host plants, many butterflies and other insects cannot survive. Birds and other wildlife use caterpillars and other insects to feed their young. Over the last few years, we have seen major declines in both insect and bird populations due to a variety of factors, especially habitat loss and fragmentation. Rebuilding habitat with native plants is crucial in providing food for caterpillars, which in turn provide food for baby birds; making native plants the foundation of our food webs.

Blue Vervain

(Verbena hastata)

# of Larval species- 11

Blue vervain serves as a host plant for 11 species of larval insects, including the Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia). The butterflies are brown with tan and orange markings. Each wing has a set of “eye” spots that are an iridescent blue. Caterpillars are primarily black with orange heads and feet, and have black bristles with blue spots. Blue vervain is a common wetland plant, found in both disturbed and undisturbed habitats. The verbena groundling moth and bilobed looper moth also use blue vervain as a host plant. Various genera of bees, wasps and members of the Lepidoptera family visit the flowers primarily for nectar, and songbirds like chickadees and sparrows perch atop the flower heads to eat the seeds.

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) nectaring on New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Soldier beetles (left) and ambush bug (right) on blue vervain

Adult male monarch nectaring on blue vervain

Least skipper on blue vervain

Our Greenhouse is Warmed Up and Our

2023 Retail Nursery Sale Dates are Here!

Come visit us the following Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-4pm:

May 19 & 20

June 2 & 3

June 9 & 10

June 23 & 24

July 14 & 15

August 11 & 12

Or call and schedule an appointment with our Native Plant Specialist at 612-703-7581

For more information visit:

Our Nursery Website

Non-native Species of the Month

Nodding Thistle

(Carduus nutans)

Nodding thistle, also known as musk thistle, is a biennial plant from Europe. It has a lengthy bloom period from June into October, focused on reproduction by seed. Inhabiting roadsides, fields and waste areas, it is a disturbance-prone species and usually does not invade higher quality natural areas. Nodding thistle can be identified by its broad, showy bracts and pinkish-purple ‘nodding’ flowerheads. Control methods include repeated cutting of flowering stems, hand-pulling plants, and spraying rosettes of large infestations with an herbicide in spring or fall.

Native Plant of the Month-

Obedient Plant

(Physostegia virginiana)

Obedient plant is a perennial in the Mint family that spreads by rhizomes and can form colonies quickly in the right conditions. The leaves are lance-shaped and sharply toothed, and the stem is square and hairless. Flowering spikes of densely packed, rosy-pink, 2-lipped tubular flowers appear in late season and have a high nectar content. These flowers are pollinated mostly by bumblebees. Obedient plant grows best in full-part sun and water-saturated conditions but can also tolerate average moisture. It is called Obedient plant because each flower can be rotated on the flower stalk and will stay put in its new position.

Click here for more details on our Maintenance Program

Restoration Tip of the Month

Contribute some labor of love to your local waterways! Adopt-a-Drain is an excellent program where individuals "adopt" a storm drain and clean out surrounding debris to prevent it from entering into waterways. You can name your drain and track your impact! Visit https://mn.adopt-a-drain.org/ for more information.

Visit our Blog to Learn More about Native Plants

Visit our YouTube Channel for Educational Videos

Natural Shore Technologies, Inc. | www.naturalshore.com