Beginning April 5th our stores in Princeton and Scandia will be open for the season - hopefully the snowy weather will be gone by then!  Stop by and peruse our wide variety of books, nature related gift items, works from local artists, bird houses and, of course, our wonderful selection of native seed and plant materials.   

Princeton: April hours:  Monday - Friday: 9-6  Saturday: 9-6
Scandia:   April hours:  Monday - Friday: 9-6  Saturday: 9-6


*Boreal Natives: May 10 thru July 6  Friday: 9-5  Saturday: 9-1

*Although not a source for books and other gift items, you can find the high quality seed and plant materials you need for your special project.  This includes an ever increasing inventory of potted native trees and shrubs.

*Other days and times available by appointment*
 
For a complete breakdown of store hours and directions, visit the Retail page on our website.  Also be on the lookout for our monthly Retail E-Update which highlights special deals and promotions in our stores throughout the year.

 

 

 

  

Becky Porter is our administrative assistant working out of our main office in Princeton, Minnesota.  She has been employed at PRI since 2002.

As administrative assistant, Becky's responsibilities include processing and keeping track of accounts payables for all six PRI locations.  She is also responsible for the invoicing of all six locations.  These two tasks, alone, keep her very busy.  She is also responsible for all incoming phone calls, typing proposals and other correspondence, updating the company mailing list and coordination of mass mailings, as well as many other tasks.  She also works with the sales staff coordinating insurance, bonds and other necessary items for bid submittals.

Becky is married to her husband, Tim, for 27 years.  They have two sons, Matt and Joe.  In her free time Becky enjoys reading, sewing, gardening and attending yoga classes.  She is always up for a girls' weekend and loves spending time on the sandy beaches of Mexico.

 

 

It's been almost two years since the last Prairie Day event and we are very excited to do it again this year.  We have decided to hold Prairie Day in June to showcase the early summer blooms, such as Butterfly weed, Western spiderwort, Golden Alexander and Prairie phlox.  It promises to be a fun and educational day for the whole family.  We have many special guests and activities planned, here is but a sample: 

 

Bird walk with MN Master Naturalist Doug Stucki
Discover uncommon facts about MN birds Stan Tekiela
Learn how to garden with native plants from Lynn Stiener
Guest Presenter Welby Smith, MN State Botanist
Keynote presentation by Don Shelby

Hope to see you there!!

 

 

In the fall of 2012, PRI began the process of restoring 70+ acres of native prairie at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, MN. The Windsong Farm Golf Club is a private golf course that provides members a challenging, rolling course situated in a natural setting.

Many of the "rough" areas are currently comprised of fescue grass which grows as a dense, tangled sod. This makes finding an errant shot difficult and makes playing a shot even more difficult. Conversely, native prairie grasses, which are found on some areas of the course, tend to grow in clumps.  This means golfers have a reasonable opportunity to play out of the rough. The owners, operators and members enjoy the diversity and esthetics of the prairie as it changes throughout the seasons.  They also appreciate the low-maintenance characteristics associated with native landscapes. For these reasons, they have decided to convert the fescue areas into a sustainable, beautiful and practical native landscape.

Work began last fall when PRI crews utilized a combination of spraying and prescribed burning to eradicate the fescue grass.  This spring, the site prep process will continue until the project area is ready for seeding.  The majority of the site will be seeded with a "Short-Dry" prairie grass mix utilizing a Truax seed drill.  A few select areas will be seeded with wildflowers to give the course some color, but the vast majority of the site will be seeded with only grasses.  PRI management crews will maintain the native areas on an annual basis in order to nurture the development of the native species and continue suppression of invasives.

   

 

Another great symposium is on tap this spring for the Minnesota Native Plant Society. This year's conference, being held on April 13th at the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis, is titled "Perspectives in Botany II."  With a wide array of interesting topics and speakers, this is sure to be a great event for the native plant enthusiast.  For a conference agenda, check out the updated symposium brochure.

If you are an advocate of native plants or simply have an interest in learning more about the native flora of Minnesota, you may want to consider joining the Minnesota Native Plant Society.  This wholly volunteer run organization is dedicated to the conservation and appreciation of Minnesota's native plants and plant communities through education and public awareness.  Members receive the quarterly newsletter and can attend field trips, plant sales and other special events.

For more information on the MNNPS and all this great organization has to offer, check out their website.

 

 

The annual monarch migration to Mexico is one of the most well-known and fascinating phenomenon of the natural world.  Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies make the arduous journey from the United States to their over-wintering grounds in Mexico.  Unfortunately, their overall numbers have been on the decrease in recent years, with an amazing 60% decrease recorded last year.

Experts speculate that the early, warm spring and subsequent drought were contributing factors to this major decline in population.  The other major factor surrounds the loss of critical habitat in the Corn Belt region of the United States.   Due to the rapid expansion of cropland and the reduction of conservation plantings in recent years, valuable monarch habitat has dwindled.  The use of herbicide tolerant crops has meant even more eradication of milkweed, the monarch's primary food source.

This illustrates the importance and urgency of establishing native plant landscapes wherever possible.  Each restoration project, no matter how big or small, is important and contributes to the cause.

For more information on the monarch population decline and what it mean in the "big picture," check out this article from the New York Times.



 

 

Most native grasses we produce are warm-season grasses which makes June grass (Koeleria macrantha) particularly special because it is a native cool-season grass.   June grass, as you can imagine, blooms in June before the hotter days of July and August.  It grows in scattered clumps up to a height of about one foot, adding fresh green growth early in the summer while most other native grasses are just getting going.  It's a very attractive, shorter plant that works well in small areas such as butterfly or prairie gardens.  It grows naturally in dry, well-drained soils and is naturally drought tolerant.  June grass grows readily from seed, often times developing small seedlings in its first growing season.  The seed is tiny (200,000 seeds per ounce) and therefore can be seeded at a similar rate as wildflowers (1-2 oz. per 1,000 sq. ft.).