A plant nursery is a business that grows and sells plants for gardening, landscaping, and forestry. These operations fall into two main categories: retail nurseries, which sell directly to consumers, and wholesale nurseries, which sell in bulk to landscapers, garden centers, and developers. Plants can originate from the nursery’s own production, from massive commercial farms, or from niche, specialized growers. Understanding these sourcing methods reveals the logistical sophistication of the industry.
Nurseries That Grow Their Own Stock
Many nurseries, particularly wholesale producers, grow their own stock to ensure quality control and secure a steady supply of specific cultivars. This self-sufficient approach allows growers to start plants from the earliest stages and select for traits like disease resistance or unique coloration. The most common method of starting plants is from seed, which is the result of sexual reproduction and is used for annuals, many perennials, and certain trees.
For plants that must be genetically identical to the parent, nurseries rely on asexual propagation methods. Taking cuttings involves severing a portion of the stem, leaf, or root, and treating it with rooting hormones to stimulate the formation of a new root system. This ensures the new plant is a true clone of the parent stock.
Grafting and Tissue Culture
Another specialized technique is grafting, where a cutting from a desired plant, called the scion, is joined to the rootstock of another plant to grow as a single organism. Grafting is often used for fruit trees and ornamental trees to combine desirable traits with a superior root system or hardiness. Some facilities utilize tissue culture, or micropropagation, which is a method of growing plantlets in a sterile laboratory setting on a nutrient-rich agar medium. This allows for the rapid, mass production of disease-free clones from a tiny piece of tissue.
Infrastructure Needs
Successfully growing plants from these early stages requires specialized infrastructure. This includes climate-controlled greenhouses, automatic misting systems to maintain high humidity for cuttings, and propagation beds with bottom heat to encourage root development.
Relying on Large Scale Wholesale Growers
The vast majority of plants sold in retail garden centers are purchased from large-scale wholesale operations that specialize in mass production. These commercial farms often span hundreds of acres and focus on efficient, high-volume growing to achieve economies of scale. Wholesale growers primarily supply intermediate plant products to retailers, allowing the receiving nursery to grow the plants to a marketable size, a process known as “finishing.”
These intermediate products are referred to as plugs, liners, or bare root stock, depending on the plant type and stage of development. Plugs are small seedlings or rooted cuttings grown in trays, commonly used for annuals and perennials. Liners are slightly larger, pre-finished plants in small containers, forming the base for many shrubs and trees. Bare root stock refers to dormant plants, typically roses or fruit trees, shipped without soil, which is cost-effective for bulk transport.
Plant brokers often facilitate the flow between large growers and retail nurseries, acting as intermediaries to connect buyers with available stock across a wide network of suppliers. Brokers and growers participate in major agricultural trade shows, where bulk transactions for the upcoming growing season are negotiated. This system ensures that garden centers can stock a diverse inventory without having to manage the complex production of every item they sell.
Sourcing Specialized and Unique Plants
Nurseries turn to niche sourcing methods for plants that are rare, difficult to propagate in bulk, or unavailable through the standard commercial supply chain. One pathway is international imports, allowing nurseries to introduce new or exotic species from overseas growers. This process is strictly regulated to prevent the introduction of foreign pests and diseases, requiring the plant material to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate.
Upon arrival, imported plants are subject to quarantine and inspection by government agencies to ensure they meet domestic health standards. Nurseries also source unique items from small, local specialty farms that focus on particular niches, such as heirloom vegetable varieties, rare native plants, or specific cultivars. These smaller growers often maintain a level of detailed care not feasible in large-scale production environments.
In less common instances, particularly for mature trees or specimen plants, nurseries may engage in plant rescue or salvage operations. This involves carefully extracting established plants from construction sites or properties slated for development. This practice allows nurseries to acquire and offer large, mature plants that would take decades to grow from scratch.