New nursery and seed facility opens in Brentwood

The Long Island Native Plant Initiative celebrated the completion of a new nursery and seed production facility at the Sisters of St. Joseph campus in Brentwood this week.

Funding from the Suffolk County Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program enabled the purchase of the main greenhouse and the establishment of seed production fields, as well as the dedication of land and office space by the Sisters of St. Joseph staff. 

Founded 16 years ago, the nonprofit LINPI has been on the forefront of the native plant movement, developing local commercial sources of ecotypic (genetically native) plant materials. The initiative continues advocating their use in regional landscaping, nursery production and restorations through ethical and permitted wildland seed collection, banking and seed and plant production and public education.

“LINPI is well suited leader for this effort and recognizes that a sustained demand for this new source of highly revered, best suited and most environmentally appropriate native plants hinges on the awareness that they are the building blocks of our regional ecosystems” Rusty Schmidt, LINPI president, said in a written statement. “These native plants are uniquely adapted to our local environment and provide a number of irreplaceable benefits including carbon sequestration, air and water quality improvement, wildlife habitat including serving as host plants for pollinators and shoreline protection.”

The ecotypic plants will be sold at the organization’s native plant sale on Saturday, Sept. 18 and Sunday, Sept. 19, which raises funds for the nonprofit and serves to provide these plant materials to the public and nurseries.For more information visit: www.linpi.org