A sign posted in New England Wild Flower Society's Nursery sales areas at Garden in the Woods in Framingham and Nasami Farm in Whately, Massachusetts states:

Why shouldn't I plant these rare plants out in the wild?

You will notice some of the plants being sold here at the Society's nurseries are labeled as “rare and endangered” and that they are intended for “garden use only.” Why?

The issue is complicated, but the simplest answer is that we don't want to take a chance on changing the genetic makeup of our rare species by introducing genes from plants from other areas. Assuming that our native wild populations have adapted to the local environment, the introduction of new genetic material to wild populations could theoretically make their offspring less able to thrive. For example if propagated plants from North Carolina are introduced into New England and cross with our wild populations, the offspring could be less hardy than the parents. Because rare species often have few plants in a population (often part of the reason they are rare) the effect could be even more pronounced.

Thus, planting these propagated plants near rare plants in the wild could unintentionally be changing genetic makeup of our rare plants, potentially making them less likely to survive in the wild in New England . Because most of the plants we sell are propagated from stock growing here at Garden in the Woods long before accession records were kept, we have no way of knowing where some of our rare species originated. Therefore, just to be on the safe side, all plants and seeds sold by the Society, from both common and rare plants, are intended for garden use only , unless they are specifically propagated for use in habitat restoration. In conservation, our first goal must always be to “do no harm.”

For a more detailed discussion of this complicated issue, Mary Parkin of the US Fish and Wildlife Service wrote an article for the New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP). CLICK HERE to view or download the entire article (in Adobe Acrobat [PDF] format).