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  • From the Editor
  • R Kasten Dumroese

Welcome to the summer issue of Native Plants Journal. A good friend just passed along an article from an Oregon publication. In it, the author is talking about “nativars.” That’s correct, a bit of a play on the word “cultivar” and used to describe native plants that have particularly good traits for urban landscapes and are thusly being propagated for that niche market. At first, that made my eyes roll, but on second glance I found the idea growing on me (no pun intended). It seems to me that our native plant umbrella is large enough to realize that certain native plants are needed for certain situations. Clearly, on a wildland restoration site I would oppose using a nativar, but if that works best in an urban landscape, I’d much rather have that than some new horticultural variety that could be the next invasive species. And, if a nativar for a suburban front yard helps educate people about the value and use of our native species, that’s also a positive attribute.

In this issue you won’t find any nativars. What you will find are several good articles representing a variety of species from across the continent. Topics in this issue include directions for building a low-cost seed dryer and a way to easily determine seed moisture content, techniques for propagating Utah and Rocky Mountain junipers, methods for establishing Nebraska sedge with hydroseeding, and an evaluation of an attempt to restore an Eastern prairie in North Carolina. This issue also contains our annual Native Plant Materials Directory.

I’m going to take a moment for a bit of shameless self-promotion. For more than 3 decades, the US Forest Service has been distributing the newsletter Forest Nursery Notes. Don’t be fooled by the title. Although this free, twice-a-year newsletter started with a focus on tree seedlings, it has expanded during the last decade to include pertinent information on growing all native plants. Each issue generally has 2 or 3 practical articles on some aspect of propagation, and an immense bibliography of current literature on all aspects of native plant propagation. You may request a CD that has reprints of the non-copyright protected articles. If you would like to subscribe, just e-mail your complete mailing address to Tom Landis at nurseries @aol.com. If you are interested in looking at past issues, they, and a plethora of other nursery-related publications, are available on the Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources website (http://www.rngr.net), a service of the US Forest Service, State & Private Forestry. [End Page 73]

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