Tuskegee Honey Black Belt Prairie Plant Nursery

Our Black Belt Native Plant Nursery Expansion Project is now underway at Tuskegee Honey.

We are expanding our small farm nursery to grow more native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and edible perennial plants that are well suited to the Black Belt region of Alabama.

Our focus is simple: grow plants that can work with our land and climate—not against them.

Whenever possible, we focus on plants that can thrive with natural rainfall, support pollinators and wildlife, return year after year, and provide long-term value to farms, gardens, and home landscapes.

Our nursery project includes native and edible perennial plants such as:

• American persimmon
• Chickasaw plum
• Elderberry
• Pawpaw
• Serviceberry
• American beautyberry
• Native blackberries
• Native oaks
• Milkweed
• Coreopsis
• Yarrow
• Little bluestem
• Other native prairie plants and wildflowers

Some plants will begin with locally collected seeds, acorns, cuttings, and other plant material. Others will be grown from purchased seed or starter plants that can eventually become mother plants for future propagation.

Many of the plants that naturally belong in our region can be surprisingly difficult to find locally. We want to help change that.

By growing more plants here in the Black Belt, we hope to make regionally appropriate plants more accessible while also creating another sustainable source of farm income.

The plants we grow can help:

• Support pollinators.
  Native flowering plants provide nectar, pollen, shelter, and habitat for bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
• Increase biodiversity.
  Adding native trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers helps restore some of the plant diversity historically associated with the Black Belt landscape.
• Grow food for the long term.
  Plants such as persimmon, plum, elderberry, pawpaw, blackberry, and mulberry can become perennial food sources that produce for many years.
• Reduce dependence on irrigation.
  We are especially interested in plants capable of growing under our rain-fed, low-input farming system.
• Create local farm income.
  Instead of shipping plants across the country, we want to grow more of them right here and make them available through our farm and local farmers market.

This is not a finished nursery yet—and that's part of the story.

During the project, we will be preparing nursery growing areas, improving wildlife protection, starting seeds and cuttings, potting seedlings, collecting native seed, establishing mother plants, and increasing the number and variety of plants we can produce.

Some plants may be ready relatively quickly. Trees and slower-growing native species will take longer.

We will share the process as we learn what works best on our Black Belt Prairie farm.

We will continue updating this page with photographs and project milestones as the nursery develops.

Project updates will include:

• Nursery site preparation
• Seed starting and propagation
• Native seed and acorn collection
• Mother plant establishment
• Seedling growth
• Pollinator habitat plantings
• Volunteer activities
• Plants becoming available for sale
• Lessons learned along the way

Plants produced through the nursery will become available for purchase as they reach an appropriate size.

Availability will vary by season and by species. Some of our native trees and perennial plants simply cannot—and should not—be rushed.

Watch our website and social media for announcements about plants available at the farm and the local farmers market.

Education is also part of this project.

As the nursery grows, we will develop simple Carver-style educational materials about native plants, edible perennials, pollinator habitat, propagation, and rain-fed gardening.

Our goal is not only to sell a plant, but to help people understand what it is, why it belongs here, and how to help it grow.

🌱 Nursery expansion: In progress
🌱 Seed & plant propagation: In progress
🌱 Native seed collection: Ongoing
🌱 Educational materials: In development
🌱 Plant sales: As plants become ready

Check back and watch our nursery grow.