Wild Earth Native Plant Nursery isn’t flashy. You won’t find any state-of-the-art greenhouses here. In fact, you won’t find any electricity or even a phone. What you will find in this Jackson, New Jersey, nursery is a large selection of eastern native plants--from the well-known pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) to the less-common hairy blazing star (Liatris graminifolia)--and the former landscape architect who, nine years ago, decided to turn his hobby into a successful career.

Rich Pillar started Wild Earth in 1990, but its real beginnings go back to the early ’80s. At the time, he was on the board of directors of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and a successful landscape architect. He was usually the first person to visit a new job site in order to make an inventory of existing plants. "I could see that much of our natural heritage was being lost to development," he recalls. "And my job gave me the opportunity to be on the front lines of rescuing these plants from the bulldozers."

Most of these salvaged plants were relocated to Pillar’s backyard garden. From there, this plant enthusiast--who once propagated plants in his college dormitory and sold them for book money--says his backyard became a giant experiment. "I tried to propagate everything," he says. The plants he succeeded with became the seed sources for many of the nursery’s offerings.

A Great Selection
Much of Wild Earth’s success over the years can be traced to the nursery’s distinctive stock, composed mostly of plants native to the eastern United States. "Wild Earth fills a niche that isn’t being filled commercially right now," says F.M. Mooberry, a retired native-plant consultant living in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Carolyn Summers, who grows more than 300 native species in her garden in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, agrees. While an employee of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Summers researched the best sources of natives for restoration projects. Based on her findings, Summers says, "Wild Earth offers things you can’t find anywhere else."

Among the more uncommon plants Wild Earth sells are the carnivorous thread-leaved sundew (Drosera filiformis) and a small woodland plant, yellow star grass (Hypoxis hirsuta) with tiny yellow flowers that bloom continuously from midsummer to fall, both species Pillar rescued from development sites. Others include Barbara’s buttons (Marshallia grandiflora), a rare plant listed as threatened or endangered in several eastern states, and American ipecac (Porteranthus stipulatus), with its wispy, spring-blooming white flowers and finely-cut foliage.

Each year, Pillar works to make even more plants available to the public. Two of this year’s more unusual introductions are golden club (Orontium aquaticum), an aquatic plant with fingerlike scapes topped with bright yellow flowers, and puttyroot (Aplectrum hyemale), a native orchid with a single overwintering leaf that disappears before the flowering stalk develops in early spring. The nursery is also offering a number of new ferns, including maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes) and crested wood fern (Dryopteris cristata)--both native to the eastern states--and the relatively scarce northwestern native, deer fern (Blechnum spicant).

The majority of Wild Earth’s offerings are grown from seed gathered by Pillar. "I collect the seeds myself so I know exactly what I’m growing," he explains. Customers appreciate this hands-on approach. "I’ve never been to any other nursery that has plants that look so perfect," says Summers, who has been buying native plants from Wild Earth for six years.

Robert Swain, a New Jersey landscape contractor who uses Wild Earth’s plants in landscape restoration projects, agrees. "Each plant is like his child. He nurtures it, coddles it, and doesn’t want to let it go," Swain says. "There’s really a kind of rustic romance to his life."

Pillar acknowledges that his work is not easy, but he finds refuge in the nursery. "It’s very peaceful here," he says. "The plants attract all sorts of wildlife. Coming here is like entering another world."