Native Plant Nursery Home

A key component of Acterra's Stewardship Program is our Native Plant Nursery. Our nursery propagates indigenous native plants to support the revegetation work performed by our own stewardship projects and those of other local public agencies. The nursery was started in 1996 in a staff member's backyard. Its present home is on open space land owned by the City of Palo Alto in the hills adjacent to Foothills Park. Today, the nursery has three staff members − Deanna Giuliano the nursery manager, and her assistants Nikki Hanson and Peter Neal − plus a number of dedicated volunteers.

The mission of Acterra's Native Plant Nursery is to promote the restoration of damaged local landscapes by growing native plants from seeds gathered within local watersheds and distributing those plants for reintroduction within the watersheds. The nursery plays a critical role in our efforts to rebuild healthy and functional natural habitat. During the past year the nursery grew more than 17,000 plants, including over 100 species of shrubs, trees, grasses, and wildflowers. All of these plants are grown solely from seeds and cuttings that are locally wild-collected by our staff.

By propagating plants from local genetic stock, our native plant nursery plays a critical role in Acterra's open space revegetation activities. These watershed-specific plants are better adapted to specific local ecosystem conditions such as microclimate, soil types and soil moisture. Plants grown from local stock also help to maintain the diversity of genetic variation within species and thus are important to maintaining overall biodiversity.

While supporting the revegetation work performed by our own stewardship programs is the top priority for the nursery, we also supply plants for revegetation projects undertaken by other local public agencies, such as the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Other locations planted with our natives include the UCSC Arboretum and Hidden Villa farm and wilderness preserve.

In addition, the nursery is a focal point for native plant education for people in surrounding communities. Dozens of community members serve as nursery volunteers and hundreds participate in transplanting and plant care workdays each year, gaining special insights on native plants during their hours with the nursery staff. The nursery also provides plants to creekside residents to aid in the restoration of riparian areas. And the nursery provides plants and consulting to schools in the area for educational landscaping and demonstration gardens, plus seeds for classroom science and growing projects.