On a warm, windy day in Mid-July, I attended the Cardno JFNew Nursery Open House, located in Walkerton, Indiana. The last time I visited was in the year 1999, when I was still a graduate student in the University of Illinois’ MLA program. Well, a lot has changed in 14 years! JFNew was founded in 1989 by Jim New as J.F. New & Associates, it currently goes by the moniker of Cardno JFNew. JFNew is a restoration contractor, native plant nursery, and so much more that it may be best to visit their site to check out all that they do. The nursery is 130 acres in size, during my visit, I saw about five acres. Throughout the day, there were speaker presentations in the air-conditioned conference room, guided tours of the growing houses and fields, and a native plant sale.
The event was held in the pole barn where the seed cleaning equipment is held, with attached office space where the presentations, including one on permaculture by Dr. Katherine Kent, of Ivy Tech Community College, were held. Other presentations concerned grant writing, invasive species control, natural areas restoration techniques, and The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
The building holding the indoor events, was surrounded by growing fields, including this large stand of Purple Coneflower.
The plant sale had trays, of 38 or 50 plants each, preselected for rain gardens, prairie gardens, and other conditions as well, or plants could be purchased individually in plugs or gallon pots.
Demonstrations included a discussion on how air spades, in conjunction with a large vacuum, are used to identify the depth of utilities in work zones.
Another area displayed bioengineering products used in slope retention and restoration along the shores of water bodies including lakes and streams.
The bags are filled with a mixture of gravel and growing media
Other bags were seen in one of their shade houses, along with other emergent wetland plants…
..including Swamp Milkweed and Blue Flag Iris in one gallon pots.
Out in the fields, they were growing emergent wetland plants in “RootCarpets.” RootCarpets consist of 15ft long by 3ft wide sections of coir (coconut) fiber, encased in woven coir blankets. The blankets are 2.75 inches thick and wetland plants are installed approximately 12 inches on center. During installation, the blankets are held in place with 12 inch long steel staples or hardwood stakes. Live stakes (dormant woody cuttings) can also be driven into the carpets in spring or fall installations.
RootCarpet production beds
There was an amphibious machine called the “Marsh Master” on display. Pretty cool. It can be used to spray or mow invasive plants, such as Phragmites or Cattails in wetlands, with the proper attachments. It even floats in open water. It would be fun to that that baby out for a test drive!
The greenhouses were full of plants in different stages of maturity. Some plant plugs in flats were about to be potted up to larger one gallon size pots.
Others were just starting out in flats that contained 200 small seedlings…
Such as these flats of Marsh Blazing Star planted at the end of June.
Others like these Prairie Dropseeds, in 50 plant trays, …
..and these Penstemon sp., looked ready to be sent out to restoration sites.
An automated irrigation system ran along tracks hung above the plants.
The growing fields full of Cardinal Flower and Rattlesnake Master will be ready for seed collection at the end of summer.
Purple Coneflower must also be popular in seed mixes, if this field is any indication. Every area of the nursery was incredibly well maintained and the plants looked great. It was all very impressive and I was amazed at the growth of the nursery (no pun intended!) over the last 14 years since I visited last.
During the mid-day break (the open house ran from 9am EST to 4pm) a lunch of BBQ pork and side dishes was served. The food was tasty and, overall, it was a good day of hearing new ideas and gathering information on natural areas restoration, seeing how the plants are grown and bioengineering materials are used, as well as, meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. Congratulations to all the folks at Cardno JFNew involved in organizing such an enjoyable day.
