The Need: In the coming decades, millions of native plants will be needed for green infrastructure projects along these evolving Los Angeles waterways, public open spaces, and private properties—a supply that does not currently exist in the LA area. This lack of plant material seriously jeopardizes our ability to successfully implement such future projects. Los Angeles landscape professionals, public agencies, and retail nurseries currently source plants from commercial nurseries  as far away as San Diego County, Arizona, and even Oregon, but importing plants has major pitfalls—both financially and environmentally. Doing so...

•    Increases costs and emissions associated with transportation

•    Outsources jobs and economic development opportunities

•    Decreases the survival rate of plants

•    Does away with local educational and vocational training opportunities

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The Solution: By converting underutilized land into a network of nurseries/urban ecology centers we can provide Angelenos with both a viable source of locally-collected and locally-grown plants for projects, as well as educational and vocational training opportunities

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Creating a network of native plant nurseries throughout the Los Angeles region. Grown in LA is sourcing seeds from the local Los Angeles region, propagating plants locally within the Los Angeles region, and supplying plants to projects that are also located in the LA area. The nurseries we help start will also serve as laboratories that research topics related to urban ecology, a task not being tackled by any other nursery in Southern California. Our sites will also serve as educational centers for Angelenos, creating a model for urban transformation that grows plants and grows people. 

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