Plant for a Purpose — Erosion Control, Wetland and Native Restoration Plants

What plants satisfy a conservation commission planting condition?

Whatever the approval says — which is the point. A conservation commission planting plan normally specifies species by Latin name, a size, a count, and often a wetland indicator status or a native requirement. Your job is to match that schedule, not to substitute something similar. This page is built to let you do that check quickly: the Latin name is on every listing, the NWPL indicator status is published for 43 species, native status is tagged in the catalog, and the counts are live. If a species on your sheet is not here, it is not here — better to know now than at the pre-construction meeting.

What is wetland indicator status, and what do OBL, FACW, FAC and FACU mean?

Wetland indicator status is a rating from the USACE National Wetland Plant List that describes how reliably a species occurs in wetlands. OBL (obligate) means almost always in wetlands. FACW (facultative wetland) means usually in wetlands. FAC means equally likely in wetlands or uplands. FACU (facultative upland) means usually upland, though it does occur in wetlands. UPL means almost never in wetlands. Wetland scientists use these ratings to delineate wetlands and to write mitigation planting lists, and reviewers use them to check that a submitted list actually contains wetland species. The ratings on this page are the Northcentral & Northeast regional values — confirm against the current official NWPL before you use one on a submittal.

What are the best plants for slope stabilization and erosion control?

On a sunny bank, a creeping juniper such as Bar Harbor is the standard: the stems root where they touch, so the mat physically pins the face of the slope and keeps doing it through winter when a deciduous cover is bare. On a shaded or wooded slope, Pennsylvania Sedge. On raw, dry, poor material, sweetfern, which suckers sideways and takes ground nothing else wants. On the wet toe of a slope or a ditch line, Dwarf Arctic Willow and red twig dogwood. All of these are in the Erosion Control Plants collection — 23 listings.

What can I plant for streambank stabilization in a riparian buffer?

Woody stems with fibrous root systems that tolerate periodic inundation. Heritage River Birch and Fox Valley River Birch for the upper bank, Pussy Willow and Bailey's Red Twig Dogwood for the toe and the flood-prone zone, American Elder and Gray Dogwood for the buffer behind it, and Sweet Gale where it is genuinely saturated. The Riparian Buffer Plants collection has 39 listings, with indicator status published on most of them.

What counts as a native plant on a New Hampshire or Massachusetts planting plan?

Plans usually mean species native to New England or to the northeast, cited by Latin name. The straight species on this page that meet that reading include Carex pensylvanica, Carex vulpinoidea, Comptonia peregrina, Myrica gale, Cornus racemosa, Cornus sericea, Ilex verticillata, Salix discolor, Sambucus canadensis, Osmunda spectabilis, Osmunda cinnamomea, Onoclea sensibilis, Polystichum acrostichoides, Thuja occidentalis, Acer rubrum, Nyssa sylvatica, Chionanthus virginicus and Aronia melanocarpa. Note that some listings are named cultivars of a native species, which some plans accept and some do not — read your condition before you order. There are 197 listings in Native Plants.

What plants work in a rain garden or a detention basin?

Plants for a detention basin have the hardest brief on the site: standing water for a day or two after a storm, then bone dry between them. Sensitive Fern, Cinnamon Fern and Royal Fern handle it in shade. Sixteen Candles Summersweet, Sugartina Crystalina, Little Henry and Henry's Garnet Virginia Sweetspire, Low Scape Mound Aronia and the winterberries handle it in sun. See Rain Garden Plants — 38 listings.

When should I plant a restoration or mitigation planting in New England?

Fall is the main window. From roughly early September through the ground freezing — often into November in southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts — soil is still warm, air temperatures have dropped, and woody material moves with far less stress than in July. Spring is the other window, from thaw through about late May. The practical constraint on a permitted job is usually the approval itself: many conditions carry a completion date or tie the planting to a bond release, and material availability tightens sharply late in the fall. If you have a date, order against the live counts rather than assuming.

Are the plant counts on this site live?

Yes. Every listing shows the count available at that moment, per size and per pack, and this page was built from those same live figures. Counts move during the day in fall, so a number here can be behind by the time you read it — the listing is always the authority. Anything showing zero is not sold, not backordered.

Can you supply against a plant schedule from a plan set?

Check the schedule against this page first. Latin name, size and count are published on every listing, and the wetland indicator status is published on 43 species, so most schedules can be matched line by line without asking anyone. What is in stock is what is orderable — there is no waiting list behind a zero.

Where can I buy wetland plants near me?

From Pro Growers of New England in Newton, New Hampshire. Delivery runs up to 100 miles, covering most of New Hampshire, northeastern Massachusetts and southern Maine, and order pickup is six days a week, Monday to Saturday. Wetland restoration plants, riparian buffer plants, rain garden plants and erosion control plants are held across five collections here, from $10.00, with the USACE wetland indicator status published for 43 species — which is the part that makes the difference when a conservation commission is reading your submittal.