Hedgerow Farms collects and grows wild seeds for flowers and grasses from across California. The farm's client base includes Santa Clara Valley Water. (Courtesy photo)
When a fire blazes through acres of open space, it doesn’t just demolish trees and structures. It can kill all the wild plants and native species in its path, leaving behind acres of barren land.
That’s where Hedgerow Farms comes in. Its team of farmers, ecologists and botanists have been working for nearly 30 years to grow a supply of thousands of native species of wildflowers and plants on its 300-acre farm in Winters, California, to help restore areas devastated by fires, flooding and other disruptive events.
Julia Michaels, a restoration ecologist at Hedgerow, said theirs is one of the only wild seed farms of its kind in California operating at a large scale.
“We have 6,000 species of California native plants, and I’d say available at (a nursery), there’s probably like 10 or 20 species you can buy,” Michaels said. “But for the rest of those 6,000 species, we are the ones making those commercially available.”
Hedgerow’s customers include Santa Clara Valley Water, open space districts, state parks and other organizations.
Hedgerow is busy collecting seeds this time of year, Michaels said. She and the farm’s team of ecologists and botanists travel across the state to collect seeds from wildlands that they bring back to their farm.
Once a customer orders a batch of wildflower and grass seeds, Michaels develops a mixture of seeds that are native to the area, including enough variety to bloom at different times of the year.
“It’s kind of like programming nature,” Michaels said. “I’m trying to create basically some succession based on what we give them in a seed mix.”
Restoring wildland with native species is important, she added, since grasses and flowers are adapted to thrive in the region they are in. Poppies from the coast might not thrive if they are replanted in the Sacramento Valley, she said.
The organization gets its name from the hedgerows seen in Britain, which separate fields, protect soil from erosion and keep cattle and livestock enclosed.
Hedgerow founder John Anderson, who worked as a veterinary scientist at UC Davis, started the company after he couldn’t find a place to buy different wildflower and grass species.
“It’s a really specialized world. You have to be a really good botanist to recognize all these different species and identify them correctly,” Michaels said.
Timing can also be a challenge. Some flowers bloom at different times depending on the weather or other outside factors, leaving a small window for collection.
Originally published at Hannah Kanik