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Using Native Plants is a 120-min videotape that was developed as a result of a Cooperative Extension Partnership Programming Grant between the Univ. of Minnesota, Minnesota Extension Service and the Cooperative Extension–Univ. of Wisconsin-Extension. The content covers woodland wildflowers, prairie establishment and maintenance, landscaping lakeshores, and using native plants in traditional gardens settings.Video segments include: Eloise Butler Wildflower garden, Minneapolis, Minn.; Curtis Prairie, Madison, Wis.; Big Sandy Lake, Minn.; and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chanhassen. Developed originally as advanced Master Gardener training, the program was a national satellite broadcast on 29 Feb. 1996. It was viewed by at least nine states and more than 500 participants. Video production costs, including a 20-page participant's handout with extensive references and plant lists, were just under $13,000. A cost analysis, evaluation, sample of the participant's packet, pictures from the videotape and an order form will be presented. Copies of the tape and print packet may be obtained for $50 from Minnesota Extension Service, 1.800.876.8636, or Univ. of Wisconsin-Extension, at 1.608.262.3346.

About 333 people in the Anchorage area are involved in landscaping and landscape architecture, while about 18% of all farms in Alaska are considered greenhouse and nursery farms. These greenhouse and nursery farms account for $12.7 million in annual sales and comprise 28% of total Alaska agricultural sales. Alaskan horticulture producers have little industry knowledge of landscapers' and landscape architects' demand for Alaska native plants. This survey attempted to uncover the amounts of specific native Alaska varieties of shrubs, trees, herbaceous plants, and ferns that landscapers and landscape architects used in 2004, while also asking what types of plants they would like to use if a consistent supply was established. Landscapers' and landscape architects' business activities and perceptions are also evaluated. Surveys were distributed electronically as well as by standard mail to 165 landscapers and landscape architects in the Anchorage area. An overall 12% response rate provided insight into the commercial demand for Alaska native plant varieties.

Five Utah Native Plant Propagation workshops during Mar. 2005 supplied 100 participants with specialized containers and potting mix, native plant seed, resource booklet, lecture, and instructor supervision during the hands-on workshop portion. Forty-three participants responded to a Sept. 2005 follow-up survey. Seedling survival averaged 6.4 seedlings per tray of 72 cells, or 8.8%. Only 36% of the participants used the resource booklet after the workshop. Most survey respondents did not cite particular reasons for seedling failure. Seed propagation workshops are challenging due to: 1) wide variance in participants' horticultural experience; 2) limited materials and resources; and 3) inherent inconsistencies in native plant seed viability. Before attending future seed propagation workshops, registrants will receive seedling cultivation information to improve success rates.

Educational and research opportunities utilizing native plant species are being developed by the LSU Agricultural Center through the recent establishment of a native plant arboretum at the Calhoun Research Station. Plants indigenous to Louisiana and surrounding states are being collected and planted in the arboretum for evaluation of potential values for landscaping, in food industries, and/or wildlife management. Native trees being studied include species of oak (Quercus), maple (Acer), hickory (Carya), and dogwood (Cornus). Lesser known species of holly (Ilex) and hawthorn (Crataegus), are being evaluated for commercial production and landscape potential. Fruit being collected for field orchard studies include mayhaw (Crataegus opaca), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), and several native plums (Prunus spp.).

Wildflowers/native plants are increasingly being used in landscapes, especially in low maintenance areas. Buffalograss is also receiving attention as a low maintenance grass. Establishing wildflowers in buffalograss would be useful in sites where mowing occurred only once in the fall, such as with minimeadows. Four experiments were conducted to study the establishment of wildflowers in buffalograss. Survival of wildflowers after one year was 88% when wildflowers were planted as greenhouse grown transplants and buffalograss plugged in 2 weeks later, 67% when one-year-old field grown wildflowers were transplanted into buffalograss plugged at the same time and 48% when greenhouse grown wildflowers were transplanted into established buffalograss. Establishment of wildflowers overseeded into established buffalograss sod was very low. There were significant differences in wildflower survival within each study. Species which performed well in buffalograss included Leadplant, Blue Fax, Purple Prairie Clover, Little Bluestem and Stiff Goldenrod.