This morning I walked through the nursery area to fulfill the last of the 2024 rootlet orders. First year seedling usually do get seeded into a specific location, where it’ll be easier for me to find an pot them the following May for local orders. But this is a wild-simulated nursery, and so plants are started in a natural configuration anywhere there’s a good habitat for them here.
So that often means that if I’m fulfilling an order for the older than first year roots, I have to hunt for them just as I would if I were in the true wilds, digging roots. The only difference is that I know roughly where there *should* be plants to find. But that’s true of any digger who keeps an eye on his/her patches throughout the years.
Wild-Simulated Nursery has True-Wild Problems
We have wild pigs here now. They tore up one of the areas where I should have been able to find the plants to fulfill this order. They’re very destructive and incredibly irritating! For many years we saw reports of sightings in the area, but none were here. Last year was the first year of the plague of wild pigs, though. And now they’re back again. My guess is that they’re cleaning the forest floors of all things edible. That probably includes ginseng roots.
It was a struggle to find ten of the 2-3 year old roots I needed. An entire section of the lower part of the nursery hill looked like it had been trampled and raked clean. <Sigh>. I guess I am going to have to fence it in with hog panels to keep them out next year, if this is going to be the herd’s fall and winter layover.
I did manage to find the ten plants needed, but it wasn’t as easy as it would have been had my closest patches been intact.
Reserve Now for 2025 Orders
Next year I most likely won’t have 2nd or 3rd roots to sell, but I’ll have plenty of first year potted in spring and bare-root in fall. The potted plants are for local pick-up only, but the bare-root can be shipped to US addresses (except CA) once the weather cools off. Email me to let me know you want to be contacted next year to place an order.
Wild Ozark Ginseng Nursery
I’m a ginseng habitat steward & host a habitat demonstration garden in Kingston, AR. In spring I sell potted ginseng seedlings locally, and in fall I ship out bare-root seedlings to US addresses (except CA). We’re a very small operation, and the garden isn’t large. But if you’d like to see American ginseng growing in a rehabilitated place with look-alikes and companion plants, it’s free to visit by appointment.
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If you like nature art, check out my paintings at WildOzark.com. I make my paints from rocks, soot, bones, and a couple of light-fast plants. And, I’m also a REALTOR® with Montgomery Whiteley Realty, under my real name Roxann Riedel. If you’re thinking of moving to the Ozarks of Arkansas and would like me to be your Buyer’s Representative, email, text, or call me at (479) 409-3429! And if you’re moving away from or selling property in Madison, Newton, or Carroll county, I’m happy to be your Listing Agent.