Nursery-grown native plants can masquerade as ecological restoration

Evidence

Westrolled along the site of the new terrace, just talking. There was a rocky flower bed along the path, full of native spring wildflowers. There were trillium and bellwort and a whole patch of leaves which I recognized as lady’s slipper. Protected species, every one. Was this what they meant by an ecological restoration? A flower bed? I asked where the plants had come from and along with a “none-of-your-business,” look I was assured that they’d been bought from a nursery which grew all their own plants. Indeed, each still had a nursery tag. Not a single one had been taken from the wild, he said with emphasis. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 530

Categorization

• SEED: The nursery tag as the tell that a ‘restoration’ is a planted bed, not a restored ecosystem — a lesson in reading landscape honesty.
• XREF: connects to: Well-meaning staff are trapped between ecological reality and an owner’s demand — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 534; Ecological restoration requires first knowing the organisms by name as individuals. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 298; Well-intentioned habitat restoration can destroy other creatures’ homes — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 310 (+2 more)